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THE AMERICANIZATION 
OF EDWARD BOK 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY 
OF A DUTCH BOY FIFTY YEARS AFTER 



WITH ILLUSTRATIONS 



NEW YORK 
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 

1921 



^ 



* * 



Copyright, 1920, by 
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 



First Edition, September, 1920 

Second Edition, November, 1920 

Third Edition, December, 1920 

Fourth Edition, December, 1920 

Fifth Edition, March, 1921 

Sixth Edition, March, 1921 

Seventh Edition, June, 1921 

Eighth Edition, August, 1921 

ft 



TO THE AMERICAN WOMAN I OWE MUCH 
BUT TO TWO WOMEN I OWE MORE 

MY MOTHER 

AND 

MY WIFE 

AND TO THEM I DEDICATE THIS ACCOUNT OF THE BOY 

TO WHOM ONE GAVE BIRTH AND BROUGHT TO MANHOOD 

AND THE OTHER BLESSED WITH ALL THAT A 

HOME AND FAMILY MAY MEAN 



AN EXPLANATION 

This book was to have been written in 1914, when 
I foresaw some leisure to write it, for I then intended 
to retire from active editorship. But the war came, an 
entirely new set of duties commanded, and the project 
was laid aside. 

Its title and the form, however, were then chosen. 
By the form I refer particularly to the use of the third 
person. I had always felt the most effective method 
of writing an autobiography, for the sake of a better per- 
spective, was mentally to separate the writer from his 
subject by this device. 

Moreover, this method came to me very naturally 
in dealing with the Edward Bok, editor and publicist, 
whom I have tried to describe in this book, because, in 
many respects, he has had and has been a personality 
apart from my private self. I have again and again found 
myself watching with intense amusement and interest 
the Edward Bok of this book at work. I have, in turn, 
applauded him and criticised him, as I do in this book. 
Not that I ever considered myself bigger or broader than 
this Edward Bok: simply that he was different. His 
tastes, his outlook, his manner of looking at things were 
totally at variance with my own. In fact, my chief dif- 
ficulty during Edward Bok's directorship of The Ladies 1 
Home Journal was to abstain from breaking through the 
editor and revealing my real self. Several times I did 



vni AN EXPLANATION 

so, and each time I saw how different was the effect from 
that when the editorial Edward Bok had been allowed 
sway. Little by little I learned to subordinate myself 
and to let him have full rein. 

But no relief of my life was so great to me personally 
as his decision to retire from his editorship. My family 
and friends were surprised and amused by my intense 
and obvious relief when he did so. Only to those closest 
to me could I explain the reason for the sense of absolute 
freedom and gratitude that I felt. 

Since that time my feelings have been an interesting 
study to myself. There are no longer two personalities. 
The Edward Bok of whom I have written has passed 
out of my being as completely as if he had never been 
there, save for the records and files on my library shelves. 
It is easy, therefore, for me to write of him as a personality 
apart: in fact, I could not depict him from any other 
point of view. To write of him in the first person, as if 
he were myself, is impossible, for he is not. 

The title suggests my principal reason for writing the 
book. Every life has some interest and significance; 
mine, perhaps, a special one. , Here was a little Dutch 
boy unceremoniously set down in America unable to 
make himself understood or even to know what persons 
were saying; his education was extremely limited, prac- 
tically negligible; and yet, by some curious decree of 
fate, he was destined to write, for a period of years, to 
the largest body of readers ever addressed by an Amer- 
ican editor — the circulation of the magazine he edited 
running into figures previously unheard of in periodical 
literature. He made no pretense to style or even to com- 



AN EXPLANATION IX 

position: his grammar was faulty, as it was natural it 
should be, in a language not his own. His roots never 
went deep, for the intellectual soil had not been favorable 
to their growth; — yet, it must be confessed, he achieved. 
But how all this came about, how such a boy, with 
every disadvantage to overcome, was able, apparently, 
to "make good" — this possesses an interest and for 
some, perhaps, a value which, after all, is the only reason 
for any book. 

Edward W. Bok 

Merion 

Pennsylvania 

1920 






WITH REGARD TO THIS EIGHTH EDITION 

Hundreds of letters have reached the publishers and 
author of this book asking that an edition be published 
at a reduced price which will allow its purchase in 
quantities for distribution. 

I am most happy to co-operate with the desire of my 
publishers to respond to this wide public demand and 
to issue this eighth (8th) edition at a reduced price, 
yet keeping the book practically the same as the previous 
editions. 

It is highly creditable to the sense of public responsi- 
bility felt by my publishers in doing this, since in issuing 
this reduced-price edition they do so not only with actual 
orders for hundreds of copies of the higher-priced edition 
on their books but in the midst of a growing sale in ex- 
cess of any time since the publication of the volume a 
year ago. Hence the way was clearly and invitingly 
open for the sale of several more editions at the higher 
price. 

With a sense of deepest gratitude, therefore, to my 
publishers for this decision, and to the public for its be- 
wilderingly generous reception of this book, I am glad 
to have a share in sending forth this popular-priced edi- 
tion to a wider audience. 

Edward W. Bok 

Merion 
Pennsylvania 
July, 192 1 



CONTENTS 

PAGS 

An Explanation vii 

An Introduction of Two Persons xvii 



CHAPTER 

I, The First Days in America ....... i 

II. The First Job: Fifty Cents a Week ... 8 

III. The Hunger for Self-Education -. . . . .17 

IV. A Presidential Friend and a Boston Pilgrim- 

age ..... 29 

V. Going to the Theatre with Longfellow . . 41 

VI. Phillips Brooks's Books and Emerson's Men- 
tal Mist 48 

VII. A Plunge into Wall Street 61 

VIII. Starting a Newspaper Syndicate 78 

DC. Association with Henry Ward Beecher ... 89 

X. The First "Woman's Page," "Literary Leaves," 

and Entering Scrlbner's 104 

XI. The Chances for Success 119 

XII. Baptism Under Fire 126 

XIII. Publishing Incidents and Anecdotes .... 136 

XIV. Last Years in New York ....... 144 

zi 



xii CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

XV, Successful Editorship 160 

XVI. First Years as a Woman's Editor . . . 166 

XVII. Eugene Field's Practical Jokes . . . 181 

XVIII. Building Up a Magazine 190 

XIX. Personality Letters ....... 204 

XX. Meeting a Reverse or Two ..... 219 
XXI. A Signal Piece of Constructive Work . 238 

XXII. An Adventure in Civic and Private Art . 251 

XXIII; Theodore Roosevelt's Influence ... 266 

XXIV. Theodore Roosevelt's Anonymous Work 273 

XXV. The President and the Boy 284 

XXVI. The Literary Back-Staers 291 

XXVII. Women's Clubs and Woman Suffrage . . 297 

XXVIII. Going Home with Kipling, and as a Lec- 
turer 309 

XXIX. An Excursion into the Feminine Nature 327 

XXX. Cleaning Up the Patent-Medicine and 

Other Evils 340 

XXXI. Adventures in Civics 352 

XXXII. A Bewildered Bok 365 

XXXIII. How Millions of People Are Reached . 374 

XXXIV. A War Magazine and War Activities . . 387 
XXXV. At the Battle-Fronts in the Great War 404 



CONTENTS xiii 

CXAFTEK PAGE 

XXXVI. The End of Thirty Years' Editorship . 417 

XXXVII. The Third Period 424 

XXXVIII. Where America Fell Short with Me . . 434 

XXXK. What I Owe to America 448 



Edward William Bok: Biographical Data 453 
The Expression of a Personal Pleasure 455 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

Edward W. Bok Frontispiece 

FACING PAGE 

Edward Bok at the age of six, upon his arrival in the United 

States 4 

William J. H. Bok, LL.D 6 

Edward Bok's birthplace at Helder, Netherlands 44 

Sieke Gertrude Bok 158 

Edward Bok's present home "Swastika" (named by Rudyard 

Kipling) at Merion, Pennsylvania 214 

The grandmother 240 

A specimen of the type of small house which Edward Bok pub- 
lished 242 

Edward Bok as editor of The Ladies' Home Journal, in his Phila- 
delphia office 258 

A specimen of Theodore Roosevelt's manuscript, which Edward 

Bok copied, for his anonymous department " Men " . . . 278 

"My little device shows the master, Sakia Muni, under a tree 
in the deer park at Benares teaching his disciples — /. Lock- 
wood Kipling.'" 312 

The medallion, designed by Mr. John Lockwood Kipling for his 
son, Rudyard Kipling, and presented by the latter to Ed- 
ward Bok 314 

The Dutch grandfather 362 

A first "scenario" of a novel by Rudyard Kipling .... 384 

Where Edward Bok is happiest: in his garden 45b 



AN INTRODUCTION OF TWO PERSONS 

IN WHOSE LIVES ARE FOUND THE SOURCE AND MAINSPRING 
OF SOME OF THE EFFORTS OF THE AUTHOR OF THIS BOOK 
IN HIS LATER YEARS 

Along an island in the North Sea, five miles from the 
Dutch Coast, stretches a dangerous ledge of rocks that has 
proved the graveyard of many a vessel sailing that turbulent 
sea. On this island once lived a group of men who, as 
each vessel was wrecked, looted the vessel and murdered 
those of the crew who reached shore. The government of 
the Netherlands decided to exterminate the island pirates, 
and for the job King William selected a young lawyer at 
The Hague. 

"J want you to clean up that island," was the royal 
order. It was a formidable job for a young man of twenty- 
odd years. By royal proclamation he was made mayor of 
the island, and within a year, a court of law being estab- 
lished, the young attorney was appointed judge; and in that 
dual capacity he " cleaned up" the island. 

The young man now decided to settle on the island, and 
began to look around for a home. It was a grim place, 
barren of tree or living green of any kind; it was as if a 
man had been exiled to Siberia. Still, argued the young 
mayor, an ugly place is ugly only because it is not beau- 
tiful. And beautiful he determined this island should be. 

xvii 



xviii AN INTRODUCTION OF TWO PERSONS 

One day the young mayor-judge called together his coun- 
cil. "We must have trees" he said; "we can make this 
island a spot of beauty if we will! " But the practical sea- 
faring men demurred; the little money they had was 
needed for matters far more urgent than trees. 

" Very well" was the mayor's decision — and little they 
guessed what the words were destined to mean — "/ will do 
it myself" And that year he planted one hundred trees, 
the first the island had ever seen. 

"Too cold," said the islanders; "the severe north winds 
and storms will kill them all." 

" Then I will plant more" said the unperturbed mayor. 
And for the fifty years that he lived on the island he did so. 
He planted trees each year; and, moreover, he had deeded to 
the island government land which he turned into public 
squares and parks, and where each spring he set out shrubs 
and plants. 

Moistened by the salt mist the trees did not wither, but 
grew prodigiously. In all that expanse of turbulent sea — 
and only those who have seen the North Sea in a storm know 
how turbulent it can be — there was not a foot of ground on 
which the birds, storm-driven across the water-waste, could 
rest in their flight. Hundreds of dead birds often covered 
the surface of the sea. Then one day the trees had grown 
tall enough to look over the sea, and, spent and driven, the 
first birds came and rested in their leafy shelter. And 
others came and found protection, and gave their gratitude 



AN INTRODUCTION OF TWO PERSONS xix 

vent in song. Within a few years so many birds had dis- 
covered the trees in this new island home that they attracted 
the attention not only of the native islanders but also of the 
people on the shore five miles distant, and the island be- 
came famous as the home of the rarest and most beautifid 
birds. So grateful were the birds for their resting-place 
that they chose one end of the island as a special spot for 
the laying of their eggs and the raising of their young, and 
they fairly peopled it. It was not long before ornithologists 
from various parts of the world came to "Eggland" as the 
farthermost point of the island came to be known, to see 
the marvellous sight, not of thousands but of hundreds of 
thousands of bird-eggs, 

A pair of storm-driven nightingales had now found the 
island and mated there; their wonderful notes thrilled even 
the souls of the natives; and as dusk fell upon the seabound 
strip of land the women and children would come to u the 
square" and listen to the evening notes of the birds of golden 
song. The two nightingales soon grew into a colony, and 
within a few years so rich was the island in its nightingales 
that over to the Dutch coast and throughout the land and into 
other countries spread the fame of "The Island of Night- 
ingales." 

Meantime, the young mayor-judge, grown to manhood, 
had kept on planting trees each year, setting out his shrub- 
bery and plants, until their verdure now beautifully shaded 
the quaint, narrow lanes, and transformed into cool wooded 



xx AN INTRODUCTION OF TWO PERSONS 

roads what once had been only barren sun-baked wastes. 
Artists began to hear of the place and brought their can- 
vases, and on the walls of hundreds of homes throughout 
the world hang to-day bits of the beautiful lanes and wooded 
spots of "The Island of Nightingales" The American 
artist William M. Chase took his pupils there almost 
annually. "In all the world to-day" he declared to his 
students, as they exclaimed at the natural cool restfulness 
of the island, "there is no more beautiful place." 

The trees are now majestic in their height of forty or 
more feet, for it is nearly a hundred years since the young 
attorney went to the island and planted the first tree; to- 
day the churchyard where he lies is a bower of cool green, 
with the trees that he planted dropping their moisture 
on the lichen-covered stone on his grave. 

This much did one man do. But he did more. 

After he had been on the barren island two years he 
went to the mainland one day, and brought back with him 
a bride. It was a bleak place for a bridal home, but the 
young wife had the qualities of the husband. "While 
you raise your trees," she said, "I will raise our children." 
And within a score of years the young bride sent thirteen 
happy-faced, well-brought-up children over that island, 
and there was reared a home such as is given to few. Said 
a man who subsequently married a daughter of that home: 
"It was such a home that once you had been in it you felt 
you must be of it, and that if you couldn't marry one of the 



AN INTRODUCTION OF TWO PERSONS xxi 

daughters you would have been glad to have married the 
cook.^ 

One day when the children had grown to man's and wo- 
man's estate the mother called them all together and said 
to them, "I want to tell you the story of your father and 
of this island," and she told them the simple story that is 
written here. 

"And now'' she said, "as you go out into the world I 
want each of you to take with you the spirit of your father's 
work, and each in your own way and place, to do as he 
has done: make you the world a bit more beautiful and better 
because you have been in it. That is your mother's message 
to you." 

The first son to leave the island home went with a band of 
hardy men to South Africa, where they settled and became 
known as "the Boers." Tirelessly they worked at the 
colony until towns and cities sprang up and a new nation 
came into being: The Transvaal Republic. The son he- 
came secretary of state of the new country, and to-day the 
United States of South Africa bears tribute, in part, to 
the mother's message to "make the world a bit more beauti- 
ful and better." 

The second son left home for the Dutch mainland, where 
he took charge of a small parish; and when he had finished 
his work he was mourned by king and peasant as one of 
the leading clergymen of his time and people. 

A third son, scorning his own safety, plunged into the 



xxii AN INTRODUCTION OF TWO PERSONS 

boiling surf on one of those nights of terror so common to 
that coast, rescued a half-dead sailor, carried him to his 
father's house, and brought him back to a life of usefulness 
that gave the world a record of imperishable value. For 
the half-drowned sailor was Heinrich Schliemann, the 
famous explorer of the dead cities of Troy. 

The first daughter now left the island nest; to her in- 
spiration her husband owed, at his life's close, a shelf of 
works in philosophy which to-day are among the standard 
books of their class. 

The second daughter worked beside her husband until 
she brought him to be regarded as one of the ablest preachers 
of his land, speaking for more than forty years the message 
of man's betterment. 

To another son it was given to sit wisely in the councils 
of his land; another followed the footsteps of his father. 
Another daughter, refusing marriage for duty, ministered 
unto and made a home for one whose eyes could see not. 

So they went out into the world, the girls and boys of 
that island home, each carrying the story of their father's 
simple but beautiful work and the remembrance of their 
mother's message. Not one from that home but did well 
his or her work in the world; some greater, some smaller, 
but each left behind the traces of a life well spent. 

And, as all good work is immortal, so to-day all over the 
world goes on the influence of this one man and one woman, 
whose life on that little Dutch island changed its barren 



AN INTRODUCTION OF TWO PERSONS xxiii 

rocks to a bower of verdure, a home for the birds and the 
song of the nightingale. The grandchildren have gone to the 
four corners of the globe, and are now the generation of 
workers— some in the far East Indies; others in Africa; 
still others in our own land of America. But each has 
tried, according to the talents given, to carry out the message 
of that day, to tell the story of the grandfather' s work; 
just as it is told here by the author of this book, who, in 
the efforts of his later years, has tried to carry out, so far 
as opportunity has come to him, the message of his grand- 
mother: 

"Make you the world a bit more beautiful and better 
because you have been in it." 



THE AMERICANIZATION 
OF EDWARD BOK 



CHAPTER 1 
THE FIRST DAYS IN AMERICA 

The leviathan of the Atlantic Ocean, in 1870, was 
The Queen, and when she was warped into her dock 
on September 20 of that year, she discharged, among 
her passengers, a family of four from the Netherlands 
who were to make an experiment of Americanization. 

The father, a man bearing one of the most respected 
names in the Netherlands, had acquired wealth and 
position for himself; unwise investments, however, had 
swept away his fortune, and in preference to a new start 
in his own land, he had decided to make the new be- 
ginning in the United States, where a favorite brother- 
in-law had gone several years before. But that, never 
a simple matter for a man who has reached forty-two, 
is particularly difficult for a foreigner in a strange land. 
This fact he and his wife were to find out. The wife, 
also carefully reared, had been accustomed to a scale of 
living which she had now to abandon. Her American- 
ization experiment was to compel her, for the first time 
in her life, to become a housekeeper without domestic 
help. There were two boys: the elder, William, was 
eight and a half years of age; the younger, in nineteen 
days from his landing-date, was to celebrate his seventh 
birthday. 

This younger boy was Edward William Bok. He had, 
according to the Dutch custom, two other names, but 



2 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

he had decided to leave those in the Netherlands. 
And the American public was, in later years, to omit for 
him the "William." 

Edward's first six days in the United States were 
spent in New York, and then he was taken to Brooklyn, 
where he was destined to live for nearly twenty years. 

Thanks to the linguistic sense inherent in the Dutch, 
and to an educational system that compels the study 
of languages, English was already familiar to the father 
and mother. But to the two sons, who had barely 
learned the beginnings of their native tongue, the Eng- 
lish language was as a closed book. It seemed a cruel 
decision of the father to put his two boys into a public 
school in Brooklyn, but he argued that if they were to 
become Americans, the sooner they became part of the 
life of the country and learned its language for them- 
selves, the better. And so, without the ability to make 
known the slightest want or to understand a single word, 
the morning after their removal to Brooklyn, the two 
boys were taken by their father to a public school. 

The American public-school teacher was perhaps even 
less well equipped in those days than she is to-day to 
meet the needs of two Dutch boys who could not under- 
stand a word she said, and who could only wonder what 
it was all about. The brothers did not even have the 
comfort of each other's company, for, graded by age, 
they were placed in separate classes. 

Nor was the American boy of 1870 a whit less cruel 
than is the American boy of 1920; and he was none the 
less loath to show that cruelty. This trait was evident 
at the first recess of the first day at school. At the dis- 



THE FIRST DAYS IN AMERICA 3 

missal, the brothers naturally sought each other, only 
to find themselves surrounded by a group of tormentors 
who were delighted to have such promising objects for 
their fun. And of this opportunity they made the most. 
There was no form of petty cruelty boys , minds could 
devise that was not inflicted upon the two helpless 
strangers. Edward seemed to look particularly invit- 
ing, and nicknaming him "Dutchy" they devoted them- 
selves at each noon recess and after school to inflicting 
their cruelties upon him. 

Louis XIV may have been right when he said that 
"every new language requires a new soul," but Edward 
Bok knew that while spoken languages might differ, there 
is one language understood by boys the world over. 
And with this language Edward decided to do some ex- 
perimenting. After a few days at school, he cast his 
eyes over the group of his tormentors, picked out one 
who seemed to him the ringleader, and before the boy 
was aware of what had happened, Edward Bok was in 
the full swing of his first real experiment with American- 
ization. Of course the American boy retaliated. But 
the boy from the Netherlands had not been born and 
brought up in the muscle-building air of the Dutch dikes 
for nothing, and after a few moments he found himself 
looking down on his tormentor and into the eyes of a 
crowd of very respectful boys and giggling girls who 
readily made a passageway for his brother and himself 
when they indicated a desire to leave the schoolyard and 
go home. 

Edward now felt that his Americanization had be- 
gun; but, always believing that a thing begun must be 



4 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

carried to a finish, he took, or gave— it depends upon 
the point of view — two or three more lessons in this 
particular phase of Americanization before he convinced 
these American schoolboys that it might be best for 
them to call a halt upon further excursions in tor- 
ment. 

At the best, they were difficult days at school for a 
boy of six without the language. But the national 
linguistic gift inherent in the Dutch race came to the 
boy's rescue, and as the roots of the Anglo-Saxon lie in 
the Frisian tongue, and thus in the language of his 
native country, Edward soon found that with a change 
of vowel here and there the English language was not 
so difficult of conquest. At all events, he set out to 
master it. 

But his fatal gift of editing, although its possession 
was unknown to him, began to assert itself when, just 
as he seemed to be getting along fairly well, he balked 
at following the Spencerian style of writing in his copy- 
books. Instinctively he rebelled at the flourishes which 
embellished that form of handwriting. He seemed to 
divine somehow that such penmanship could not be 
useful or practicable for after life, and so, with that 
Dutch stolidity that, once fixed, knows no altering, he 
refused to copy his writing lessons. Of course trouble 
immediately ensued between Edward and his teacher. 
Finding herself against a literal blank wall — for Edward 
simply refused, but had not the gift of English with 
which to explain his refusal — the teacher decided to 
take the matter to the male principal of the school. 
She explained that she had kept Edward after school for 



THE FIRST DAYS IN AMERICA 5 

as long as two hours to compel him to copy his Spen- 
cerian lesson, but that the boy simply sat quiet. He 
was perfectly well-behaved, she explained, but as to his 
lesson, he would attempt absolutely nothing. 

It was the prevailing custom in the public schools of 
1870 to punish boys by making them hold out the palms 
of their hands, upon which the principal would inflict 
blows with a rattan. The first time Edward was pun- 
ished in this way, his hand became so swollen he 
wondered at a system of punishment which rendered 
him incapable of writing, particularly as the discerning 
principal had chosen the boy's right hand upon which 
to rain the blows. Edward was told to sit down at 
the principal's own desk and copy the lesson. He sat, 
but he did not write. He would not for one thing, and 
he could not if he would. After half an hour of pur- 
poseless sitting, the principal ordered Edward again to 
stand up and hold out his hand; and once more the 
rattan fell in repeated blows. Of course it did no good, 
and as it was then five o'clock, and the principal had 
inflicted all the punishment that the law allowed, and 
as he probably wanted to go home as much as Edward 
did, he dismissed the sore-handed but more-than-ever- 
determined Dutch boy. 

Edward went home to his father, exhibited his swol- 
len hand, explained the reason, and showed the pen- 
manship lesson which he had refused to copy. It is a 
singular fact that even at that age he already under- 
stood Americanization enough to realize that to cope 
successfully with any American institution, one must be 
constructive as well as destructive. He went to his 



6 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

room, brought out a specimen of Italian handwriting 
which he had seen in a newspaper, and explained to 
his father that this simpler penmanship seemed to him 
better for practical purposes than the curlicue fancifully 




SPENCERIAN STYLE IN VOGUE AT THIS PERIOD 

embroidered Spencerian style; that if he had to learn 
penmanship, why not learn the system that was of more 
possible use in after life ? 

Now, your Dutchman is nothing if not practical. He 
is very simple and direct in his nature, and is very likely 
to be equally so in his mental view. Edward's father 
was distinctly interested — very much amused, as he 
confessed to the boy in later years — in his son's discern- 
ment of the futility of the Spencerian style of penman- 
ship. He agreed with the boy, and, next morning, ac- 
companied him to school and to the principal. The two 
men were closeted- together, and when they came out 
Edward was sent to his classroom. For some weeks 
he was given no penmanship lessons, and then a new 
copy-book was given him with a much simpler style. 
He pounced upon it, and within a short time stood at 
the head of his class in writing. 

The same instinct that was so often to lead Edward 
aright in his future life, at its very beginning served him 
in a singularly valuable way in directing his attention 







WILLIAM J. H. BOK, LL.D. 
Father of Edward Bok 



THE FIRST DAYS IN AMERICA 7 

to the study of penmanship; for it was through his 
legible handwriting that later, in the absence of the 
typewriter, he was able to secure and satisfactorily fill 
three positions which were to lead to his final success. 
Years afterward Edward had the satisfaction of seeing 




Lwn£<faz4ys ~ M^ytji^^ 



SPENCERIAN STYLE NOW IN VOGUE 

public-school pupils given a choice of penmanship 
lessons: one along the flourish lines and the other of a 
less ornate order. Of course, the boy never associated 
the incident of his refusal with the change until later 
when his mother explained to him that the principal of 
the school, of whom the father had made a warm friend, 
was so impressed by the boy's simple but correct view, 
that he took up the matter with the board of education, 
and a choice of systems was considered and later de- 
cided upon. 

From this it will be seen that, unconsciously, Edward 
Bok had started upon his career of editing ! 



CHAPTER II 

THE FIRST JOB: FIFTY CENTS A WEEK 

The elder Bok did not find his "lines cast in pleasant 
places" in the United States. He found himself, pro- 
fessionally, unable to adjust the methods of his own land 
and of a lifetime to those of a new country. As a 
result the fortunes of the transplanted family did not 
flourish, and Edward soon saw his mother physically 
failing under burdens to which her nature was not 
accustomed nor her hands trained. Then he and his 
brother decided to relieve their mother in the house- 
work by rising early in the morning, building the fire, 
preparing breakfast, and washing the dishes before they 
went to school. After school they gave up their play 
hours, and swept and scrubbed, and helped their mother 
to prepare the evening meal and wash the dishes after- 
ward. It was a curious coincidence that it should fall 
upon Edward thus to get a first-hand knowledge of 
woman's housework which was to stand him in such 
practical stead in later years. 

It was not easy for the parents to see their boys thus 
forced to do work which only a short while before had 
been done by a retinue of servants. And the capstone 
of humiliation seemed to be when Edward and his 
brother, after having for several mornings found no 
kindling wood or coal to build the fire, decided to go out 
of evenings with a basket and pick up what wood they 



THE FIRST JOB: FIFTY CENTS A WEEK o 

could find in neighboring lots, and the bits of coal 
spilled from the coal-bin of the grocery-store, or left 
on the curbs before houses where coal had been de- 
livered. The mother remonstrated with the boys, al- 
though in her heart she knew that the necessity was upon 
them. But Edward had been started upon his Ameri- 
canization career, and answered: "This is America, 
where one can do anything if it is honest. So long as 
we don't steal the wood or coal, why shouldn't we get 
it?" And, turning away, the saddened mother said 
nothing. 

But while the doing of these homely chores was very 
effective in relieving the untrained and tired mother, 
it added little to the family income. Edward looked 
about and decided that the time had come for him, young 
as he was, to begin some sort of wage-earning. But how 
and where? The answer he found one afternoon when 
standing before the shop-window of a baker in the 
neighborhood. The owner of the bakery, who had just 
placed in the window a series of trays filled with buns, 
tarts, and pies, came outside to look at the display. He 
found the hungry boy wistfully regarding the tempting- 
looking wares. 

"Look pretty good, don't they?" asked the baker. 

"They would," answered the Dutch boy with his 
national passion for cleanliness, "if your window were 
clean." 

"That's so, too," mused the baker. "Perhaps you'll 
clean it." 

"I will," was the laconic reply. And Edward Bok, 
there and then, got his first job. He went in, found a 



io THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

step-ladder, and put so much Dutch energy into the 
cleaning of the large show-window that the baker 
immediately arranged with him to clean it every Tues- 
day and Friday afternoon after school. The salary was 
to be fifty cents per week ! 

But one day, after he had finished cleaning the win- 
dow, and the baker was busy in the rear of the store, 
a customer came in, and Edward ventured to wait on 
her. Dexterously he wrapped up for another the fra- 
grant currant-buns for which his young soul — and 
stomach — so hungered ! The baker watched him, saw 
how quickly and smilingly he served the customer, 
and offered Edward an extra dollar per week if he 
would come in afternoons and sell behind the counter. 
He immediately entered into the bargain with the un- 
derstanding that, in addition to his salary of a dollar 
and a hah per week, he should each afternoon carry 
home from the good things unsold a moderate some- 
thing as a present to his mother. The baker agreed, 
and Edward promised to come each afternoon except 
Saturday. 

"Want to play ball, hey ?" said the baker. 

"Yes, I want to play ball," replied the boy, but he was 
not reserving his Saturday afternoons for games, al- 
though, boy-like, that might be his preference. 

Edward now took on for each Saturday morning — 
when, of course, there was no school — the delivery route 
of a weekly paper called the South Brooklyn Advocate. 
He had offered to deliver the entire neighborhood edition 
of the paper for one dollar, thus increasing his earning 
capacity to two dollars and a half per week. 



THE FIRST JOB: FIFTY CENTS A WEEK n 

Transportation, in those days in Brooklyn, was by 
horse-cars, and the car-line on Smith Street nearest 
Edward's home ran to Coney Island. Just around the 
corner where Edward lived the cars stopped to water 
the horses on their long haul. The boy noticed that the 
men jumped from the open cars in summer, ran into the 
cigar-store before which the watering-trough was placed, 
and got a drink of water from the ice-cooler placed near 
the door. But that was not so easily possible for the 
women, and they, especially the children, were forced 
to take the long ride without a drink. It was this that 
he had in mind when he reserved his Saturday afternoon 
to "play ball." 

Here was an opening, and Edward decided to fill it. 
He bought a shining new pail, screwed three hooks on 
the edge from which he hung three clean shimmering 
glasses, and one Saturday afternoon when a car stopped 
the boy leaped on, tactfully asked the conductor if he 
did not want a drink, and then proceeded to sell his 
water, cooled with ice, at a cent a glass to the passen- 
gers. A little experience showed that he exhausted a 
pail with every two cars, and each pail netted him thirty 
cents. Of course Sunday was a most profitable day; 
and after going to Sunday-school in the morning, he did 
a further Sabbath service for the rest of the day by re- 
freshing tired mothers and thirsty children on the Coney 
Island cars — at a penny a glass ! 

But the profit of six dollars which Edward was now 
reaping in his newly found " bonanza" on Saturday and 
Sunday afternoons became apparent to other boys, 
and one Saturday the young ice-water boy found that 



12 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

he had a competitor; then two and soon three. Ed- 
ward immediately met the challenge; he squeezed half 
a dozen lemons into each pail of water, added some 
sugar, tripled his charge, and continued his monopoly 
by selling " Lemonade, three cents a glass." Soon 
more passengers were asking for lemonade than for plain 
drinking-water ! 

One evening Edward went to a party of young peo- 
ple, and his latent journalistic sense whispered to him 
that his young hostess might like to see her social affair 
in print. He went home, wrote up the party, being 
careful to include the name of every boy and girl present, 
and next morning took the account to the city editor 
of the Brooklyn Eagle, with the sage observation that 
every name mentioned in that paragraph represented a 
buyer of the paper, who would like to see his or her name 
in print, and that if the editor had enough of these re- 
ports he might very advantageously strengthen the cir- 
culation of The Eagle. The editor was not slow to see 
the point, and offered Edward three dollars a column 
for such reports. On his way home, Edward calculated 
how many parties he would have to attend a week to 
furnish a column, and decided that he would organize 
a corps of private reporters himself. Forthwith, he 
saw every girl and boy he knew, got each to promise to 
write for him an account of each party he or she attended 
or gave, and laid great stress on a full recital of names. 
Within a few weeks, Edward was turning in to The 
Eagle from two to three columns a week; his pay was 
raised to four dollars a column; the editor was pleased 
in having started a department that no other paper car- 



THE FIRST JOB: FIFTY CENTS A WEEK 13 

ried, and the " among those present" at the parties all 
bought the paper and were immensely gratified to see 
their names. 

So everybody was happy, and Edward Bok, as a full- 
fledged reporter, had begun his journalistic career. 

It is curious how deeply embedded in his nature, even 
in his earliest years, was the inclination toward the 
publishing business. The word "curious" is used here 
because Edward is the first journalist in the Bok family 
in all the centuries through which it extends in Dutch 
history. On his father's side, there was a succession of 
jurists. On the mother's side, not a journalist is visible. 

Edward attended the Sunday-school of the Carroll 
Park Methodist Episcopal Church, in Brooklyn, of 
which a Mr. Elkins was superintendent. One day he 
learned that Mr. Elkins was associated with the pub- 
lishing house of Harper and Brothers. Edward had 
heard his father speak of Harper's Weekly and of the 
great part it had played in the Civil War; his father 
also brought home an occasional copy of Harper's 
Weekly and of Harper's Magazine. He had seen Har- 
per's Young People; the name of Harper and Brothers 
was on some of his school-books; and he pictured in his 
mind how wonderful it must be for a man to be associ- 
ated with publishers of periodicals that other people 
read, and books that other folks studied. The Sunday- 
school superintendent henceforth became a figure of 
importance in Edward's eyes; many a morning the boy 
hastened from home long before the hour for school, 
and seated himself on the steps of the Elkins house 
under the pretext of waiting for Mr. Elkins's son to go 



14 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

to school, but really for the secret purpose of seeing Mr. 
Elkins set forth to engage in the momentous business 
of making books and periodicals. Edward would look 
after the superintendent's form until it was lost to view; 
then, with a sigh, be would go to school, forgetting all 
about the Elkins boy whom he had told the father he 
had come to call for ! 

One day Edward was introduced to a girl whose 
father, he learned, was editor of the New York Weekly. 
Edward could not quite place this periodical; he had 
never seen it, he had never heard of it. So he bought 
a copy, and while its contents seemed strange, and its 
air unfamiliar in comparison with the magazines he 
found in his home, still an editor was an editor. He was 
certainly well worth knowing. So he sought his newly 
made young lady friend, asked permission to call upon 
her, and to Edward's joy was introduced to her father. 
It was enough for Edward to look furtively at the editor 
upon his first call, and being encouraged to come again, 
he promptly did so the next evening. The daughter 
has long since passed away, and so it cannot hurt her 
feelings ,now to acknowledge that for years Edward 
paid court to her only that he might know her father, 
and have those talks with him about editorial methods 
that filled him with ever-increasing ambition to tread 
the path that leads to editorial tribulations. 

But what with helping his mother, tending the baker's 
shop in after-school hours, serving his paper route, 
plying his street-car trade, and acting as social reporter, 
it soon became evident to Edward that he had not much 
time to prepare his school lessons. By a supreme effort, 



THE FIRST JOB: FIFTY CENTS A WEEK 15 

he managed to hold his own in his class, but no more. 
Instinctively, he felt that he was not getting all that he 
might from his educational opportunities, yet the need 
for him to add to the family income was, if anything, 
becoming greater. The idea of leaving school was 
broached to his mother, but she rebelled. She told the 
boy that he was earning something now and helping 
much. Perhaps the tide with the father would turn 
and he would find the place to which his unquestioned 
talents entitled him. Finally the father did. He as- 
sociated himself with the Western Union Telegraph 
Company as translator, a position for which his easy 
command of languages admirably fitted him. Thus, 
for a time, the strain upon the family exchequer was 
lessened. 

But the American spirit of initiative had entered deep 
into the soul of Edward Bok. The brother had left 
school a year before, and found a place as messenger 
in a lawyer's office; and when one evening Edward heard 
his father say that the office boy in his department had 
left, he asked that he be allowed to leave school, apply 
for the open position, and get the rest of his education 
in the great world itself. It was not easy for the parents 
to see the younger son leave school at so early an age, 
but the earnestness of the boy prevailed. 

And so, at the age of thirteen, Edward Bok left school, 
and on Monday, August 7, 1876, he became office boy 
in the electricians , department of the Western Union 
Telegraph Company at six dollars and twenty-five cents 
per week. 

And, as such things will fall out in this curiously 



16 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

strange world, it happened that as Edward drew up his 
chair for the first time to his desk to begin his work 
on that Monday morning, there had been born in Boston, 
exactly twelve hours before, a girl-baby who was des- 
tined to become his wife. Thus at the earliest possible 
moment after her birth, Edward Bok started to work for 
her! 



CHAPTER III 

THE HUNGER FOR SELF-EDUCATION 

With school-days ended, the question of self-educa- 
tion became an absorbing thought with Edward Bok. 
He had mastered a schoolboy's English, but seven 
years of public-school education was hardly a basis on 
which to build the work of a lifetime. He saw each 
day in his duties as office boy some of the foremost men 
of the time. It was the period of William H. Vander- 
bilt's ascendancy in Western Union control; and the rail- 
road millionnaire and his companions, Hamilton McK. 
Twombly, James H. Banker, Samuel F. Barger, Alonzo 
B. Cornell, Augustus Schell, William Orton, were ob- 
jects of great interest to the young office boy. Alexander 
Graham Bell and Thomas A. Edison were also constant 
visitors to the department. He knew that some of 
these men, too, had been deprived of the advantage of 
collegiate training, and yet they had risen to the top. 
But how? The boy decided to read about these men 
and others, and find out. He could not, however, af- 
ford the separate biographies, so he went to the libra- 
ries to find a compendium that would authoritatively 
tell him of all successful men. He found it in Appleton's 
Encyclopedia, and, determining to have only the best, 
he saved his luncheon money, walked instead of riding 
the five miles to his Brooklyn home, and, after a period 

17 



1 8 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

of saving, had his reward in the first purchase from his 
own earnings: a set of the Encyclopedia. He now read 
about all the successful men, and was encouraged to 
find that in many cases their beginnings had been as 
modest as his own, and their opportunities of education 
as limited. 

One day it occurred to him to test the accuracy of the 
biographies he was reading. James A. Garfield was 
then spoken of for the presidency; Edward wondered 
whether it was true that the man who was likely to be 
President of the United States had once been a boy on 
the tow-path, and with a simple directness characteristic 
of his Dutch training, wrote to General Garfield, asking 
whether the boyhood episode was true, and explaining 
why he asked. Of course any public man, no matter 
how large his correspondence, is pleased to receive an 
earnest letter from an information-seeking boy. Gen- 
eral Garfield answered warmly and fully. Edward 
showed the letter to his father, who told the boy that 
it was valuable and he should keep it. This was a new 
idea. He followed it further: if one such letter was 
valuable, how much more valuable would be a hundred ! 
If General Garfield answered him, would not other 
famous men ? Why not begin a collection of autograph 
letters? Everybody collected something. 

Edward had collected postage-stamps, and the hobby 
had, incidentally, helped him wonderfully in his study 
of geography. Why should not autograph letters from 
famous persons be of equal service in his struggle for 
self-education? Not simple autographs — they were 
meaningless; but actual letters which might tell him 



THE HUNGER FOR SELF-EDUCATION 19 

something useful. It never occurred to the boy that 
these men might not answer him. 

So he took his Encyclopedia — its trustworthiness now 
established in his mind by General Garfield's letter — 
and began to study the lives of successful men and 
women. Then, with boyish frankness, he wrote on 
some mooted question in one famous person's life; he 
asked about the date of some important event in an- 
other's, not given in the Encyclopedia; or he asked one 
man why he did this or why some other man did that. 

Most interesting were, of course, the replies. Thus 
General Grant sketched on an improvised map the exact 
spot where General Lee surrendered to him; Longfellow 
told him how he came to write "Excelsior"; Whittier 
told the story of "The Barefoot Boy"; Tennyson wrote 
out a stanza or two of "The Brook," upon condition 
that Edward would not again use the word "awful," 
which the poet said "is slang for 'very,'" and "I hate 
slang." 

One day the boy received a letter from the Con- 
federate general Jubal A. Early, giving the real reason 
why he burned Chambersburg. A friend visiting Ed- 
ward's father, happening to see the letter, recognized in 
it a hitherto-missing bit of history, and suggested that 
it be published in the New York Tribune. The letter 
attracted wide attention and provoked national dis- 
cussion. 

This suggested to the editor of The Tribune that 
Edward might have other equally interesting letters; 
so he despatched a reporter to the boy's home. This 
reporter was Ripley Hitchcock, who afterward became 



20 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

literary adviser for the Appletons and Harpers. Of 
course Hitchcock at once saw a " story" in the boy's 
letters, and within a few days The Tribune appeared 
with a long article on its principal news page giving an 
account of the Brooklyn boy's remarkable letters and 
how he had secured them. The Brooklyn Eagle quickly 
followed with a request for an interview; the Boston 
Globe followed suit; the Philadelphia Public Ledger 
sent its New York correspondent; and before Edward 
was aware of it, newspapers in different parts of the 
country were writing about "the well-known Brooklyn 
autograph collector." 

Edward Bok was quick to see the value of the pub- 
licity which had so suddenly come to him. He received 
letters from other autograph collectors all over the coun- 
try who sought to "exchange" with him. References 
began to creep into letters from famous persons to whom 
he had written, saying they had read about his won- 
derful collection and were proud to be included in it. 
George W. Childs, of Philadelphia, himself the possessor 
of probably one of the finest collections of autograph 
letters in the country, asked Edward to come to Phila- 
delphia and bring his collection with him — which he 
did, on the following Sunday, and brought it back 
greatly enriched. 

Several of the writers felt an interest in a boy who 
frankly told them that he wanted to educate himself, 
and asked Edward to come and see them. Accordingly, 
when they lived in New York or Brooklyn, or came to 
these cities on a visit, he was quick to avail himself of 
their invitations. He began to note each day in the 



THE HUNGER FOR SELF-EDUCATION 21 

newspapers the " distinguished arrivals" at the New 
York hotels; and when any one with whom he had 
corresponded arrived, Edward would, after business 
hours, go up-town, pay his respects, and thank him in 
person for his letters. No person was too high for 
Edward's boyish approach; President Garfield, General 
Grant, General Sherman, President Hayes — all were 
called upon, and all received the boy graciously and 
were interested in the problem of his self-education. 
It was a veritable case of making friends on every hand; 
friends who were to be of the greatest help and value to 
the boy in his after-years, although he had no conception 
of it at the time. 

The Fifth Avenue Hotel, in those days the stopping- 
place of the majority of the famous men and women 
visiting New York, represented to the young boy who 
came to see these celebrities the very pinnacle of opu- 
lence. Often while waiting to be received by some 
dignitary, he wondered how one could acquire enough 
means to live at a place of such luxury. The main 
dining-room, to the boy's mind, was an object of special 
interest. He would purposely sneak up-stairs and sit 
on one of the soft sofas in the foyer simply to see the 
well-dressed diners go in and come out. Edward would 
speculate on whether the time would ever come when he 
could dine in that wonderful room just once ! 

One evening he called, after the close of business, 
upon General and Mrs. Grant, whom he had met be- 
fore, and who had expressed a desire to see his collec- 
tion. It can readily be imagined what a red-letter day 
it made in the boy's life to have General Grant say: "It 



22 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

might be better for us all to go down to dinner first 
and see the collection afterward." Edward had pur- 
posely killed time between five and seven o'clock, 
thinking that the general's dinner-hour, like his own, was 
at six. He had allowed an hour for the general to eat 
his dinner, only to find that he was still to begin it. The 
boy could hardly believe his ears, and unable to find his 
voice, he failed to apologize for his modest suit or his 
general after-business appearance. 

As in a dream he went down in the elevator with his 
host and hostess, and when the party of three faced 
toward the dining-room entrance, so familiar to the 
boy, he felt as if his legs must give way under him. 
There have since been other red-letter days in Edward 
Bok's life, but the moment that still stands out pre- 
eminent is that when two colored head waiters at the 
dining-room entrance, whom he had so often watched, 
bowed low and escorted the party to their table. At 
last, he was in that sumptuous dining-hall. The entire 
room took on the picture of one great eye, and that eye 
centred on the party of three — as, in fact, it naturally 
would. But Edward felt that the eye was on him, 
wondering why he should be there. 

What he ate and what he said he does not recall. 
General Grant, not a voluble talker himself, gently 
drew the boy out, and Mrs. Grant seconded him, until 
toward the close of the dinner he heard himself talking. 
He remembers that he heard his voice, but what that 
voice said is all dim to him. One act stamped itself 
on his mind. The dinner ended with a wonderful dish 
of nuts and raisins, and just before the party rose from 



THE HUNGER FOR SELF-EDUCATION 23 

the table Mrs. Grant asked the waiter to bring her a 
paper bag. Into this she emptied the entire dish, 
and at the close of the evening she gave it to Edward 
"to eat on the way home." It was a wonderful eve- 
ning, afterward up-stairs, General Grant smoking the in- 
evitable cigar, and telling stories as he read the letters of 
different celebrities. Over those of Confederate gen- 
erals he grew reminiscent; and when he came to a letter 
from General Sherman, Edward remembers that he 
chuckled audibly, reread it, and then turning to Mrs. 
Grant, said: " Julia, listen to this from Sherman. Not 
bad." The letter he read was this: 

Dear Mr. Bok: — 

I prefer not to make scraps of sentimental writing. When 
I write anything I want it to be real and connected in form, 
as, for instance, in your quotation from Lord Lytton's play 
of "Richelieu/* "The pen is mightier than the sword." Lord 
Lytton would never have put his signature to so naked a 
sentiment. Surely I will not. 

In the text there was a prefix or qualification: 

Beneath the rule of men entirely great 
The pen is mightier than the sword. 

Now, this world does not often present the condition of 
facts herein described. Men entirely great are very rare 
indeed, and even Washington, who approached greatness as 
near as any mortal, found good use for the sword and the pen, 
each in its proper sphere. 

You and I have seen the day when a great and good man 
ruled this country (Lincoln) who wielded a powerful and pro- 
lific pen, and yet had to call to his assistance a million of 
flaming swords. 



24 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

No, I cannot subscribe to your sentiment, "The pen is 
mightier than the sword," which you ask me to write, because 
it is not true. 

Rather, in the providence of God, there is a time for all 
things; a time when the sword may cut the Gordian knot, 
and set free the principles of right and justice, bound up in 
the meshes of hatred, revenge, and tyranny, that the pens of 
mighty men like Clay, Webster, Crittenden, and Lincoln 
were unable to disentangle. Wishing you all success, I am, 
with respect, your friend, w T Shesman 

Mrs. Grant had asked Edward to send her a photo- 
graph of himself, and after one had been taken, the 
boy took it to the Fifth Avenue Hotel, intending to ask 
the clerk to send it to her room. Instead, he met 
General and Mrs. Grant just coming from the elevator, 
going out to dinner. The boy told them his errand, 
and said he would have the photograph sent up-stairs. 

"I am so sorry we are just going out to dinner," said 
Mrs. Grant, "for the general had some excellent photo- 
graphs just taken of himself, and he signed one for you, 
and put it aside, intending to send it to you when yours 
came." Then, turning to the general, she said: "Ulys- 
ses, send up for it. We have a few moments." 

" I'll go and get it. I know just where it is," returned 
the general. "Let me have yours," he said, turning to 
Edward. "I am glad to exchange photographs with 
you, boy." 

To Edward's surprise, when the general returned he 
brought with him, not a duplicate of the small carte- 
de-visite size which he had given the general — all that 
he could afford — but a large, full cabinet size. 



THE HUNGER FOR SELF-EDUCATION 25 

"They make 'em too big," said the general, as he 
handed it to Edward. 

But the boy didn't think so ! 

That evening was one that the boy was long to re- 
member. It suddenly came to him that he had read a 
few days before of Mrs. Abraham Lincoln's arrival in 
New York at Doctor Holbrook's sanitarium. Thither 
Edward went; and within half an hour from the time 




;*r 



&X&. /s. "W 



he had been talking with General Grant he was sitting 
at the bedside of Mrs. Lincoln, showing her the wonder- 
ful photograph just presented to him. Edward saw that 
the widow of the great Lincoln did not mentally respond 
to his pleasure in his possession. It was apparent even 
to the boy that mental and physical illness had done 
their work with the frail frame. But he had the mem- 
ory, at least, of having got that close to the great Presi- 
dent. 

The eventful evening, however, was not yet over. 
Edward had boarded a Broadway stage to take him to 
his Brooklyn home when, glancing at the newspaper of 
a man sitting next to him, he saw the headline: "Jef- 
ferson Davis arrives in New York." He read enough 
to see that the Confederate President was stopping at 
the Metropolitan Hotel, in lower Broadway, and as he 
looked out of the stage-window the sign "Metropolitan 



26 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

Hotel" stared him in the face. In a moment he was 
out of the stage; he wrote a little note, asked the clerk 
to send it to Mr. Davis, and within five minutes was 
talking to the Confederate President and telling of his 
remarkable evening. 

Mr. Davis was keenly interested in the coincidence 
and in the boy before him. He asked about the famous 
collection, and promised to secure for Edward a letter 
written by each member of the Confederate Cabinet. 
This he subsequently did. Edward remained with Mr. 
Davis until ten o'clock, and that evening brought about 
an interchange of letters between the Brooklyn boy and 
Mr. Davis at Beauvoir, Mississippi, that lasted until the 
latter passed away. 

Edward was fast absorbing a tremendous quantity 
of biographical information about the most famous men 
and women of his time, and he was compiling a collection 
of autograph letters that the newspapers had made 
famous throughout the country. He was ruminating 
over his possessions one day, and wondering to what 
practical use he could put his collection; for while it was 
proving educative to a wonderful degree, it was, after all, 
a hobby, and a hobby means expense. His autograph 
quest cost him stationery, postage, car-fare — all outgo. 
But it had brought him no income, save a rich mental 
revenue. And the boy and his family needed money. 
He did not know, then, the value of a background. 

He was thinking along this line in a restaurant when a 
man sitting next to him opened a box of cigarettes, and 
taking a picture out of it threw it on the floor. Edward 
picked it up, thinking it might be a "prospect" for his 



THE HUNGER FOR SELF-EDUCATION 27 

collection of autograph letters. It was the picture 
of a well-known actress. He then recalled an adver- 
tisement announcing that this particular brand of 
cigarettes contained, in each package, a lithographed 
portrait of some famous actor or actress, and that if 
the purchaser would collect these he would, in the end, 
i have a valuable album of the greatest actors and actresses 
of the day. Edward turned the picture over, only to 
find a blank reverse side. "All very well," he thought, 
"but what does a purchaser have, after all, in the end, 
but a lot of pictures ? Why don't they use the back of 
each picture, and tell what each did : a little biography ? 
Then it would be worth keeping." With his passion for 
self-education, the idea appealed very strongly to 
him; and believing firmly that there were others pos- 
sessed of the same thirst, he set out the next day, in his 
luncheon hour, to find out who made the picture. 

At the office of the cigarette company he learned that 
the making of the pictures was in the hands of the Knapp 
Lithographic Company. The following luncheon hour, 
Edward sought the offices of the company, and ex- 
plained his idea to Mr. Joseph P. Knapp, now the 
president of the American Lithograph Company. 

"I'll give you ten dollars apiece if you will write me 
a one-hundred-word biography of one hundred famous 
Americans," was Mr. Knapp's instant reply. "Send me 
a list, and group them, as, for instance: presidents 
and vice-presidents, famous soldiers, actors, authors, etc." 

"And thus," says Mr. Knapp, as he tells the tale to- 
day, "I gave Edward Bok his first literary commission, 
and started him off on his literary career." 



28 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

And it is true. 

But Edward soon found the Lithograph Com- 
pany calling for "copy/' and, write as he might, he 
could not supply the biographies fast enough. He, at 
last, completed the first hundred, and so instantaneous 
was their success that Mr. Knapp called for a second 
hundred, and then for a third. Finding that one hand 
was not equal to the task, Edward offered his brother 
five dollars for each biography; he made the same offer 
to one or two journalists whom he knew and whose 
accuracy he could trust; and he was speedily convinced 
that merely to edit biographies written by others, at 
one-half the price paid to him, was more profitable than 
to write himself. 

So with five journalists working at top speed to supply 
the hungry lithograph presses, Mr. Knapp was likewise 
responsible for Edward Bok's first adventure as an editor. 
It was commercial, if you will, but it was a commercial 
editing that had a distinct educational value to a large 
public. 

The important point is that Edward Bok was being 
led more and more to writing and to editorship. 



CHAPTER IV 

A PRESIDENTIAL FRIEND AND A BOSTON 
PILGRIMAGE 

Edward Bok had not been office boy long before he 
realized that if he learned shorthand he would stand 
a better chance for advancement. So he joined the 
Young Men's Christian Association in Brooklyn, and 
entered the class in stenography. But as this class met 
only twice a week, Edward, impatient to learn the art 
of "pothooks" as quickly as possible, supplemented this 
instruction by a course given on two other evenings at 
moderate cost by a Brooklyn business college. As the 
system taught in both classes was the same, more rapid 
progress was possible, and the two teachers were con- 
stantly surprised that he acquired the art so much more 
quickly than the other students. 

Before many weeks Edward could "stenograph" 
fairly well, and as the typewriter had not then come 
into its own, he was ready to put his knowledge to 
practical use. 

An opportunity offered itself when the city editor of 
the Brooklyn Eagle asked him to report two speeches 
at a New England Society dinner. The speakers were 
to be the President of the United States, General Grant, 
General Sherman, Mr. Evarts, and General Sheridan. 

Edward was to report what General Grant and the 

29 



30 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

President said, and was instructed to give the Presi- 
dent's speech verbatim. 

At the close of the dinner, the reporters came in and 
Edward was seated directly in front of the President. 
In those days when a public dinner included several 
kinds of wine, it was the custom to serve the reporters 
with wine, and as the glasses were placed before Edward's 
plate he realized that he had to make a decision then 
and there. He had, of course, constantly seen wine on 
his father's table, as is the European custom, but the 
boy had never tasted it. He decided he would not be- 
gin then, when he needed a clear head. So, in order to 
get more room for his note-book, he asked the waiter to 
remove the glasses. 

It was the first time he had ever attempted to report 
a public address. General Grant's remarks were few, 
as usual, and as he spoke slowly, he gave the young re- 
porter no trouble. But alas for his stenographic knowl- 
edge, when President Hayes began to speak ! Edward 
worked hard, but the President was too rapid for him; 
he did not get the speech, and he noticed that the re- 
porters for the other papers fared no better. Nothing 
daunted, however, after the speechmaking, Edward reso- 
lutely sought the President, and as the latter turned to 
him, he told him his plight, explained it was his first im- 
portant " assignment," and asked if he could possibly be 
given a copy of the speech so that he could "beat" the 
other papers. 

The President looked at him curiously for a moment, 
and then said: "Can you wait a few minutes?" 

Edward assured him that he could. 



A PRESIDENTIAL FRIEND 31 

After fifteen minutes or so the President came up to 
where the boy was waiting, and said abruptly: 

"Tell me, my boy, why did you have the wine-glasses 
removed from your place?" 

Edward was completely taken aback at the question, 
but he explained his resolution as well as he could. 

"Did you make that decision this evening ?" the 
President asked. 

He had. 

"What is your name?" the President next inquired. 

He was told. 

"And you live, where?" 

Edward told him. 

"Suppose you write your name and address on this 
card for me," said the President, reaching for one of the 
place-cards on the table. 

The boy did so. 

"Now, I am stopping with Mr. A. A. Low, on Co- 
lumbia Heights. Is that in the direction of your home ? " 

It was. 

"Suppose you go with me, then, in my carriage," 
said the President, "and I will give you my speech." 

Edward was not quite sure now whether he was on his 
head or his feet. 

As he drove along with the President and his host, 
the President asked the boy about himself, what he was 
doing, etc. On arriving at Mr. Low's house, the Presi- 
dent went up-stairs, and in a few moments came down 
with his speech in full, written in his own hand. Ed- 
ward assured him he would copy it, and return the manu- 
script in the morning. 



32 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

The President took out his watch. It was then after 
midnight. Musing a moment, he said: "You say you 
are an office boy; what time must you be at your office ? " 

"Half past eight, sir." 

"Well, good night," he said, and then, as if it were a 
second thought: "By the way, I can get another copy 
of the speech. Just turn that in as it is, if they can read 
it." 

Afterward, Edward found out that, as a matter of 
fact, it was the President's only copy. Though the 
boy did not then appreciate this act of consideration, 
his instinct fortunately led him to copy the speech and 
leave the original at the President's stopping-place in 
the morning. 

And for all his trouble, the young reporter was 
amply repaid by seeing that The Eagle was the only 
paper which had a verbatim report of the President's 
speech. 

But the day was not yet done ! 

That evening, upon reaching home, what was the 
boy's astonishment to find the following note: 

My dear young Friend: — 

I have been telling Mrs. Hayes this morning of what you 
told me at the dinner last evening, and she was very much 
interested. She would like to see you, and joins me in asking 
if you will call upon us this evening at eight-thirty. 
Very faithfully yours, 

Rutherford B. Hayes. 

Edward had not risen to the possession of a suit of 
evening clothes, and distinctly felt its lack for this occa- 






A PRESIDENTIAL FRIEND 33 

sion. But, dressed in the best he had, he set out, at 
eight o'clock, to call on the President of the United 
States and his wife ! 

He had no sooner handed his card to the butler than 
that dignitary, looking at it, announced: "The President 
and Mrs. Hayes are waiting for you ! " The ring of 
those magic words still sounds in Edward's ears: "The 
President and Mrs. Hayes are waiting for you!" — 
and he a boy of sixteen ! 

Edward had not been in the room ten minutes be- 
fore he was made to feel as thoroughly at ease as if he 
were sitting in his own home before an open fire with his 
father and mother. Skilfully the President drew from 
him the story of his youthful hopes and ambitions, and 
before the boy knew it he was telling the President and 
his wife all about his precious Encyclopedia, his evening 
with General Grant, and his efforts to become some- 
thing more than an office boy. No boy had ever so 
gracious a listener before; no mother could have been 
more tenderly motherly than the woman who sat op- 
posite him and seemed so honestly interested in all that 
he told. Not for a moment during all those two hours 
was he allowed to remember that his host and hostess 
were the President of the United States and the first 
lady of the land ! 

That evening was the first of many thus spent as the 
years rolled by; unexpected little courtesies came from 
the White House, and later from "Spiegel Grove"; 
a constant and unflagging interest followed each under- 
taking on which the boy embarked. Opportunities 
were opened to him; acquaintances were made possible; 



34 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

a letter came almost every month until that last little 
note, late in 1892: 

K t/W*^ Oifu^CtySM* <7*w**^C^ 

The simple act of turning down his wine-glasses had 
won for Edward Bok two gracious friends. 

The passion for autograph collecting was now lead- 
ing Edward to read the authors whom he read about. 
He had become attached to the works of the New Eng- 
land group: Longfellow, Holmes, and, particularly, 
of Emerson. The philosophy of the Concord sage made 
a peculiarly strong appeal to the young mind, and a 
small copy of Emerson's essays was always in Edward's 
pocket on his long stage or horse-car rides to his office 
and back. 

He noticed that these New England authors rarely 
visited New York, or, if they did, their presence was not 
heralded by the newspapers among the "distinguished 
arrivals.' ' He had a great desire personally to meet 
these writers; and, having saved a little money, he de- 
cided to take his week's summer vacation in the winter, 
when he knew he should be more likely to find the peo- 
ple of his quest at home, and to spend his savings on a 



A BOSTON PILGRIMAGE 35 

trip to Boston. He had never been away from home, 
so this trip was a momentous affair. 

He arrived in Boston on Sunday evening; and the 
first thing he did was to despatch a note, by messenger, 
to Doctor Oliver Wendell Holmes, announcing the im- 
portant fact that he was there, and what his errand was, 
and asking whether he might come up and see Doctor 
Holmes any time the next day. Edward naively told 
him that he could come as early as Doctor Holmes 
liked — by breakfast-time, he was assured, as Edward 
was all alone! Doctor Holmes's amusement at this 
ingenuous note may be imagined. 

Within the hour the boy brought back this answer: 

My dear Boy: 

I shall certainly look for you to-morrow morning at eight 
o'clock to have a piece of pie with me. That is real New 
England, you know. 

Very cordially yours, 

Oliver Wendell Holmes. 

Edward was there at eight o'clock. Strictly speaking, 
he was there at seven-thirty, and found the author al- 
ready at his desk in that room overlooking the Charles 
River, which he learned in after years to know better. 

"Well/' was the cheery greeting, "you couldn't wait 
until eight for your breakfast, could you? Neither 
could I when I was a boy. I used to have my break- 
fast at seven," and then telling the boy all about his 
boyhood, the cheery poet led him to the dining-room, 
and for the first time he breakfasted away from home 
and ate pie — and that with "The Autocrat" at his own 
breakfast-table ! 



36 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

A cosier time no boy could have had. Just the two 
were there, and the smiling face that looked out over 
the plates and cups gave the boy courage to tell all 
that this trip was going to mean to him. 

"And you have come on just to see us, have you?" 
chuckled the poet. "Now, tell me, what good do you 
think you will get out of it?" 

He was told what the idea was: that every success- 
ful man had something to tell a boy, that would be 
likely to help him, and that Edward wanted to see the 
men who had written the books that people enjoyed. 
Doctor Holmes could not conceal his amusement at all 
this. 

When breakfast was finished, Doctor Holmes said: 
"Do you know that I am a full-fledged carpenter? 
No? Well, I am. Come into my carpenter-shop." 

And he led the way into a front-basement room where 
was a complete carpenter's outfit. 

"You know I am a doctor," he explained, "and this 
shop is my medicine. I believe that every man must 
have a hobby that is as different from his regular work 
as it is possible to be. It is not good for a man to work 
all the time at one thing. So this is my hobby. This 
is my change. I like to putter away at these things. 
Every day I try to come down here for an hour or so. 
It rests me because it gives my mind a complete change. 
For, whether you believe it or not," he added with his 
inimitable chuckle, "to make a poem and to make a 
chair are two very different things." 

"Now," he continued, "if you think you can learn 
something from me, learn that and remember it when 



A BOSTON PILGRIMAGE 37 

you are a man. Don't keep always at your business, 
whatever it may be. It makes no difference bow much 
you like it. The more you like it, the more dangerous it 
is. When you grow up you will understand what I mean 
by an ' outlet' — a hobby, that is — in your life, and it 
must be so different from your regular work that it will 
take your thoughts into an entirely different direction. 
We doctors call it a safety-valve, and it is. I would 
much rather," concluded the poet, a you would forget 
all that I have ever written than that you should for- 
get what I tell you about having a safety-valve." 

"And now do you know," smilingly said the poet, 
"about the Charles River here?" as they returned to 
his study and stood before the large bay window. "I 
love this river," he said. "Yes, I love it," he repeated; 
"love it in summer or in winter." And then he was 
quiet for a minute or so. 

Edward asked him which of his poems were his fa- 
vorites. 

"Well," he said musingly, "I think 'The Chambered 
Nautilus' is my most finished piece of work, and I sup- 
pose it is my favorite. But there are also 'The Voice- 
less/ 'My Aviary,' written at this window, 'The Bat- 
tle of Bunker Hill/ and 'Dorothy Q/ written to the 
portrait of my great-grandmother which you see on the 
wall there. All these I have a liking for, and when I 
speak of the poems I like best there are two others that 
ought to be included— 'The Silent Melody' and 'The 
Last Leaf.' I think these are among my best." 

"What is the history of 'The Chambered Nau- 
tilus'? " Edward asked. 



38 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

"It has none," came the reply, "it wrote itself. So, 
too, did 'The One-Hoss Shay.' That was one of those 
random conceptions that gallop through the brain, and 
that you catch by the bridle. I caught it and reined it. 
That is all." 

Just then a maid brought in a parcel, and as Doctor 
Holmes opened it on his desk he smiled over at the boy 
and said: 

"Well, I declare, if you haven't come just at the 
right time. See those little books ? Aren't they wee ? " 
and he handed the boy a set of three little books, six 
inches by four in size, beautifully bound in half levant. 
They were his "Autocrat" in one volume, and his 
better-known poems in two volumes. 

"This is a little fancy of mine," he said. "My pub- 
lishers, to please me, have gotten out this tiny wee set. 
And here," as he counted the little sets, "they have sent 
me six sets. Are they not exquisite little things?" and 
he fondled them with loving glee. "Lucky, too, for 
me that they should happen to come now, for I have 
been wondering what I could give you as a souvenir of 
your visit to me, and here it is, sure enough ! My pub- 
lishers must have guessed you were here and my mind 
at the same time. Now, if you would like it, you shall 
carry home one of these little sets, and I'll just write a 
piece from one of my poems and your name on the fly- 
leaf of each volume. You say you like that little verse: 

"'A few can touch the magic string.' 

Then I'll write those four lines in this volume." And 
he did. 



A BOSTON PILGRIMAGE 39 

As each little volume went under the poet's pen Ed- 
ward said, as his heart swelled in gratitude: 

"Doctor Holmes, you are a man of the rarest sort to 
be so good to a boy." 

The pen stopped, the poet looked out on the Charles 

•^L#£ StSsV*, t^Mta. ^^TPuK^f *** /#£*,- 

flZur^r* /fart, *C- tC /?/?£***. 

a moment, and then, turning to the boy with a little 
moisture in his eye, he said: 

"No, my boy, I am not; but it does an old man's 
heart good to hear you say it. It means much to those 
on the down-hill side to be well thought of by the young 
who are coming up." 

As he wiped his gold pen, with its swan-quill holder, 
and laid it down, he said: 

"That's the pen with which I wrote 'Elsie Vernier* 
and the ' Autocrat' papers. I try to take care of it." 

"You say you are going from me over to see Long- 
fellow?" he continued, as he reached out once more for 
the pen. "Well, then, would you mind if I gave you a 
letter for him? I have something to send him." 

Sly but kindly old gentleman ! The "something" he 
had to send Longfellow was Edward himself, although 
the boy did not see through the subterfuge at that time. 

"And now, if you are going, I'll walk along with you 
if you don't mind, for I'm going down to Park Street to 



40 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

thank my publishers for these little books, and that lies 
along your way to the Cambridge car." 

As the two walked along Beacon Street, Doctor 
Holmes pointed out the residences where lived people of 
interest, and when they reached the Public Garden he 
said: 

"You must come over in the spring some time, and 
see the tulips and croci and hyacinths here. They are 
so beautiful. 

"Now, here is your car," he said as he hailed a com- 
ing horse-car. "Before you go back you must come and 
see me and tell me all the people you have seen; will you ? 
I should like to hear about them. I may not have more 
books coming in, but I might have a very good-looking 
photograph of a very old-looking little man," he said 
as his eyes twinkled. " Give my love to Longfellow when 
you see him, and don't forget to give him my letter, 
you know. It is about a very important matter." 

And when the boy had ridden a mile or so with his fare 
in his hand he held it out to the conductor, who grinned 
and said: 

"That's all right. Doctor Holmes paid me your fare, 
and I'm going to keep that nickel if I lose my job for 
it." 



CHAPTER V 
GOING TO THE THEATRE WITH LONGFELLOW 

When Edward Bok stood before the home of Long- 
fellow, he realized that he was to see the man around 
whose head the boy's youthful reading had cast a sort 
of halo. And when he saw the head itself he had a 
feeling that he could see the halo. No kindlier pair of 
eyes ever looked at a boy, as, with a smile, "the white 
Mr. Longfellow/' as Mr. Ho wells had called him, held 
out his hand. 

"I am very glad to see you, my boy," were his first 
words, and with them he won the boy. Edward smiled 
back at the poet, and immediately the two were friends. 

"I have been taking a walk this beautiful morning," 
he said next, "and am a little late getting at my mail. 
Suppose you come in and sit at my desk with me, and 
we will see what the postman has brought. He brings 
me so many good things, you know." 

"Now, here is a little girl," he said, as he sat down at 
the desk with the boy beside him, "who wants my au- 
tograph and a 'sentiment.' What sentiment, I wonder, 
shall I send her?" 

"Why not send her 'Let us, then, be up and doing' ? " 
suggested the boy. "That's what I should like if I were 
she." 

"Should you, indeed?" said Longfellow. "That is a 

41 



42 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

good suggestion. Now, suppose you recite it off to me, 
so that I shall not have to look it up in my books, and 
I will write as you recite. But slowly; you know I am 
an old man, and write slowly." 

Edward thought it strange that Longfellow himself 
should not know his own great words without looking 
them up. But he recited the four lines, so familiar to 
every schoolboy, and when the poet had finished writ- 
ing them, he said: 

"Good! I see you have a memory. Now, suppose I 
copy these lines once more for the little girl, and give 
you this copy ? Then you can say, you know, that you 
dictated my own poetry to me." 

Of course Edward was delighted, and Longfellow 
gave him the sheet as it is here: 



*a-* jSfcjw^lit. fiuu^o o»*.<K, JUV ._ 






% 



^Qaa/v*i V*l . -^^*§^***< 



Then, as the fine head bent down to copy the lines 
once more, Edward ventured to say to him: 

"I should think it would keep you busy if you did 
this for every one who asked you." 

"Well," said the poet, "you see, I am not so busy a 
man as I was some years ago, and I shouldn't like to 
disappoint a little girl; should you?" 

As he took up his letters again, he discovered five 



TO THE THEATRE WITH LONGFELLOW 43 

more requests for his autograph. At each one he reached 
into a drawer in his desk, took a card, and wrote his 
name on it. 

" There are a good many of these every day," said 
Longfellow, "but I always like to do this little favor. 
It is so little to do, to write your name on a card; and if 
I didn't do it some boy or girl might be looking, day by 
day, for the postman and be disappointed. I only wish 
I could write my name better for them. You see how 
I break my letters ? That's because I never took pains 
with my writing when I was a boy. I don't think I 
should get a high mark for penmanship if I were at 
school, do you?" 

"I see you get letters from Europe," said the boy, as 
Longfellow opened an envelope with a foreign stamp 
on it. 

"Yes, from all over the world," said the poet. Then, 
looking at the boy quickly, he said: "Do you collect 
postage-stamps ? " 

Edward said he did. 

"Well, I have some right here, then," and going to a 
drawer in a desk he took out a bundle of letters, and cut 
out the postage-stamps and gave them to the boy. 

"There's one from the Netherlands. There's where I 
was born," Edward ventured to say. 

"In the Netherlands? Then you are a real Dutch- 
man. Well! Well!" he said, laying down his pen. 
"Can you read Dutch?" 

The boy said he could. 

"Then," said the poet, "you are just the boy I am 
looking for." And going to a bookcase behind him he 



44 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

brought out a book, and handing it to the boy, he said, 
his eyes laughing: "Can you read that?" 

It was an edition of Longfellow's poems in Dutch. 

"Yes, indeed," said Edward. "These are your poems 
in Dutch." 

"That's right," he said. "Now, this is delightful. I 
am so glad you came. I received this book last week, 
and although I have been in the Netherlands, I cannot 
speak or read Dutch. I wonder whether you would 
read a poem to me and let me hear how it sounds." 

So Edward took "The Old Clock on the Stairs," and 
read it to him. 

The poet's face beamed with delight. "That's beau- 
tiful," he said, and then quickly added: "I mean the 
language, not the poem." 

"Now," he went on, "I'll tell you what we'll do: 
we'll strike a bargain. We Yankees are great for bar- 
gains, you know. If you will read me 'The Village 
Blacksmith' you can sit in that chair there made out 
of the wood of the old spreading chestnut-tree, and I'll 
take you out and show you where the old shop stood. 
Is that a bargain?" 

Edward assured him it was. He sat in the chair of 
wood and leather, and read to the poet several of 
his own poems in a language in which, when he wrote 
them, he never dreamed they would ever be printed. 
He was very quiet. Finally he said: "It seems so odd, 
so very odd, to hear something you know so well sound 
so strange." 

"It's a great compliment, though, isn't it, sir?" asked 
the boy. 



TO THE THEATRE WITH LONGFELLOW 45 

"Ye-es," said the poet slowly. "Yes, yes," he added 
quickly. "It is, my boy, a very great compliment." 

"Ah," he said, rousing himself, as a maid appeared, 
"that means luncheon, or rather," he added, "it means 
dinner, for we have dinner in the old New England 
fashion, in the middle of the day. I am all alone to- 
day, and you must keep me company; will you? Then 
afterward we'll go and take a walk, and I'll show you 
Cambridge. It is such a beautiful old town, even more 
beautiful, I sometimes think, when the leaves are off 
the trees. 

"Come," he said, "I'll take you up-stairs, and you can 
wash your hands in the room where George Washing- 
ton slept. And comb your hair, too, if you want to," he 
added; "only it isn't the same comb that he used." 

To the boyish mind it was an historic breaking of 
bread, that midday meal with Longfellow. 

"Can you say grace in Dutch?" he asked, as they sat 
down; and the boy did. 

"Well," the poet declared, "I never expected to hear 
that at my table. I like the sound of it." 

Then while the boy told all that he knew about the 
Netherlands, the poet told the boy all about his poems. 
Edward said he liked "Hiawatha." 

"So do I," he said. "But I think I like 'Evangeline' 
better. Still," he added, "neither one is as good as it 
should be. But those are the things you see afterward 
so much better than you do at the time." 

It was a great event for Edward when, with the poet 
nodding and smiling to every boy and man he met, and 
lifting his hat to every woman and little girl, he walked 



46 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

through the fine old streets of Cambridge with Long- 
fellow. At one point of the walk they came to a the- 
atrical bill-board announcing an attraction that evening 
at the Boston Theatre. Skilfully the old poet drew out 
from Edward that sometimes he went to the theatre with 
his parents. As they returned to the gate of "Craigie 
House' ' Edward said he thought he would go back to 
Boston. 

"And what have you on hand for this evening ?" 
asked Longfellow. 

Edward told him he was going to his hotel to think 
over the day's events. 

The poet laughed and said: 

"Now, listen to my plan. Boston is strange to you. 
Now we're going to the theatre this evening, and my 
plan is that you come in now, have a little supper with 
us, and then go with us to see the play. It is a funny 
play, and a good laugh will do you more good than to 
sit in a hotel all by yourself. Now, what do you think ? " 

Of course the boy thought as Longfellow did, and it 
was a very happy boy that evening who, in full view of 
the large audience in the immense theatre, sat in that 
box. It was, as Longfellow had said, a play of laughter, 
and just who laughed louder, the poet or the boy, 
neither ever knew. 

Between the acts there came into the box a man of 
courtly presence, dignified and yet gently courteous. 

"Ah! Phillips," said the poet, "how are you? You 
must know my young friend here. This is Wendell 
Phillips, my boy. Here is a young man who told me 
to-day that he was going to call on you and on Phillips 



TO THE THEATRE WITH LONGFELLOW 47 

Brooks to-morrow. Now you know him before he comes 
to you." 

"I shall be glad to see you, my boy," said Mr. Phil- 
lips. "And so you are going to see Phillips Brooks? 
Let me tell you something about Brooks. He has a 
great many books in his library which are full of his 
marks and comments. Now, when you go to see him 
you ask him to let you see some of those books, and 
then, when he isn't looking, you put a couple of them in 
your pocket. They would make splendid souvenirs, 
and he has so many he would never miss them. You do 
it, and then when you come to see me tell me all about 
it." 

And he and Longfellow smiled broadly. 

An hour later, when Longfellow dropped Edward at 
his hotel, he had not only a wonderful day to think over 
but another wonderful day to look forward to as well ! 

He had breakfasted with Oliver Wendell Holmes; 
dined, supped, and been to the theatre with Longfellow; 
and to-morrow he was to spend with Phillips Brooks. 

Boston was a great place, Edward Bok thought, as he 
fell asleep. 



CHAPTER VI 

PHILLIPS BROOKS'S BOOKS AND EMERSON'S MENTAL 

MIST 

No one who called at Phillips Brooks's house was 
ever told that the master of the house was out when he 
was in. That was a rule laid down by Doctor Brooks: 
a maid was not to perjure herself for her master's com- 
fort or convenience. Therefore, when Edward was 
told that Doctor Brooks was out, he knew he was out. 
The boy waited, and as he waited he had a chance to 
look around the library and into the books. The rec- 
tor's faithful housekeeper said he might when he re- 
peated what Wendell Phillips had told him of the in- 
terest that was to be found in her master's books. 
Edward did not tell her of Mr. Phillips's advice to "bor- 
row" a couple of books. He reserved that bit of in- 
formation for the rector of Trinity when he came in, 
an hour later. 

"Oh! did he?" laughingly said Doctor Brooks. 
"That is nice advice for a man to give a boy. I am 
surprised at Wendell Phillips. He needs a little talk: 
a ministerial visit. And have you followed his shame- 
less advice ? " smilingly asked the huge man as he towered 
above the boy. "No? And to think of the oppor- 
tunity you had, too. Well, I am glad you had such 
respect for my dumb friends. For they are my friends, 

4& 



PHILLIPS BROOKS'S BOOKS 49 

each one of them," he continued, as he looked fondly at 
the filled shelves. "Yes, I know them all, and love 
each for its own sake. Take this little volume," and 
he picked up a little volume of Shakespeare. " Why, we 
are the best of friends : we have travelled miles together 
— all over the world, as a matter of fact. It knows me 
in all my moods, and responds to each, no matter how 
irritable I am. Yes, it is pretty badly marked up now, 
for a fact, isn't it? Black; I never thought of that 
before that it doesn't make a book look any better to 
the eye. But it means more to me because of all that 
pencilling. 

"Now, some folks dislike my use of my books in this 
way. They love their books so much that they think 
it nothing short of sacrilege to mark up a book. But 
to me that's like having a child so prettily dressed that 
you can't romp and play with it. What is the good of a 
book, I say, if it is too pretty for use? I like to have 
my books speak to me, and then I like to talk back to 
them. 

"Take my Bible, here," he continued, as he took up 
an old and much- worn copy of the book. "I have a 
number of copies of the Great Book: one copy I preach 
from; another I minister from; but this is my own per- 
sonal copy, and into it I talk and talk. See how I 
talk," and he opened the Book and showed interleaved 
pages full of comments in his handwriting. "There's 
where St. Paul and I had an argument one day. Yes, 
it was a long argument, and I don't know now who 
won," he added smilingly. "But then, no one ever 
wins in an argument, anyway; do you think so? 



50 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

"You see*" went on the preacher, "I put into these 
books what other men put into articles and essays for 
magazines and papers. I never write for publications. 
I always think of my church when something comes to 
me to say. There is always danger of a man spread- 
ing himself out thin if he attempts too much, you 
know." 

Doctor Brooks must have caught the boy's eye, which, 
as he said this, naturally surveyed his great frame, for he 
regarded him in an amused way, and putting his hands 
on his girth, he said laughingly: "You are thinking I 
would have to do a great deal to spread myself out thin, 
aren't you?" 

The boy confessed he was, and the preacher laughed 
one of those deep laughs of his that were so infec- 
tious. 

"But here I am talking about myself. Tell me some- 
thing about yourself?" 

And when the boy told his object in coming to Bos- 
ton, the rector of Trinity Church was immensely 
amused. 

"Just to see us fellows! Well, and how do you like 
us so far?" 

And in the most comfortable way this true gentle- 
man went on until the boy mentioned that he must be 
keeping him from his work. 

"Not at all; not at all," was the quick and hearty 
response. "Not a thing to do. I cleaned up all my 
mail before I had my breakfast this morning. 

"These letters, you mean?" he said, as the boy 
pointed to some letters on his desk unopened. "Oh, 



PHILLIPS BROOKS'S BOOKS 51 

yes ! Well, they must have come in a later mail. Well, 
if it will make you feel any better I'll go through them, 
and you can go through my books if you like. I'll 
trust you," he added laughingly, as Wendell Phillips's 
advice occurred to him. 

"You like books, you say?" he went on, as he opened 
his letters. "Well, then, you must come into my 
library here at any time you are in Boston, and spend a 
morning reading anything I have that you like. Young 
men do that, you know, and I like to have them. What's 
the use of good friends if you don't share them ? There's 
where the pleasure comes in." 

He asked the boy then about his newspaper work: 
how much it paid him, and whether he felt it helped him 
in an educational way. The boy told him he thought it 
did; that it furnished good lessons in the study of hu- 
man nature. 

"Yes," he said, "I can believe that, so long as it is 
good journalism." 

Edward told him that he sometimes wrote for the 
Sunday paper, and asked the preacher what he thought 
of that. 

"Well," he said, "that is not a crime." 

The boy asked him if he, then, favored the Sunday 
paper more than did some other clergymen. 

"There is always good in everything, I think," re- 
plied Phillips Brooks. "A thing must be pretty bad 
that hasn't some good in it." Then he stopped, and 
after a moment went on: "My idea is that the fate of 
Sunday newspapers rests very much with Sunday edi- 
tors. There is a Sunday newspaper conceivable in 



52 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

which we should all rejoice — all, that is, who do not hold 
that a Sunday newspaper is always and per se wrong. 
But some cause has, in many instances, brought it about 
that the Sunday paper is below, and not above, the 
standard of its weekday brethren. I mean it is apt to 
be more gossipy, more personal, mote sensational, more 
frivolous; less serious and thoughtful and suggestive. 
Taking for granted the fact of special leisure on the 
part of its readers, it is apt to appeal to the lower 
and not to the higher part of them, which the Sunday 
leisure has set free. Let the Sunday newspaper be 
worthy of the day, and the day will not reject it. So 
I say its fate is in the hands of its editor. He can give 
it such a character as will make all good men its cham- 
pions and friends, or he can preserve for it the suspicion 
and dislike in which it stands at present.' ' 

Edward's journalistic instinct here got into full play; 
and although, as he assured his host, he had had no such 
thought in coming, he asked whether Doctor Brooks 
would object if he tried his reportorial wings by experi- 
menting as to whether he could report the talk. 

"I do not like the papers to talk about me," was the 
answer; "but if it will help you, go ahead and practise 
on me. You haven't stolen my books when you were 
told to do so, and I don't think you'll steal my name." 

The boy went back to his hotel, and wrote an article 
much as this account is here written, which he sent to 
Doctor Brooks. "Let me keep it by me," the doctor 
wrote, "and I will return it to you presently." 

And he did, with his comment on the Sunday news- 
paper, just as it is given here, and with this note: 



PHILLIPS BROOKS'S BOOKS S3 

*S MfcjQ aZusc*?* &**&$ yi** 
/Ca^<j &Ju~> S?uajO &Zj? A£**+J 

As he let the boy out of his house, at the end of that 
first meeting, he said to him: 

"And you're going from me now to see Emerson? I 
don't know," he added reflectively, "whether you will 
see him at his best. Still, you may. And even if you 
do not, to have seen him, even as you may see him, is 
better, in a way, than not to have seen him at alL" 

Edward did not know what Phillips Brooks meant. 
But he was, sadly, to find out the next day. 

A boy of sixteen was pretty sure of a welcome from 
Louisa Alcott, and his greeting from her was spontane- 
ous and sincere. 



54 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

"Why, you good boy," she said, "to come all the way 
to Concord to see us," quite for all the world as if she 
were the one favored. "Now take your coat off, and 
come right in by the fire." 

"Do tell me all about your visit," she continued. 

Before that cozey fire they chatted. It was pleasant to 
the boy to sit there with that sweet-faced woman with 
those kindly eyes! After a while she said: "Now I 
shall put on my coat and hat, and we shall walk over to 
Emerson's house. I am almost afraid to promise that 
you will see him. He sees scarcely any one now. He 
is feeble, and — " She did not finish the sentence. 
"But we'll walk over there, at any rate." 

She spoke mostly of her father as the two walked 
along, and it was easy to see that his condition was now 
the one thought of her life. Presently they reached 
Emerson's house, and Miss Emerson welcomed them at 
the door. After a brief chat Miss Alcott told of the 
boy's hope. Miss Emerson shook her head P 

"Father sees no one now," she said, "and I fear it 
might not be a pleasure if you did see him." 

Then Edward told her what Phillips Brooks had said. 

"Well," she said, "I'll see." 

She had scarcely left the room when Miss Alcott rose 
and followed her, saying to the boy: "You shall see Mr. 
Emerson if it is at all possible." 

In a few minutes Miss Alcott returned, her eyes 
moistened, and simply said: "Come." 

The boy followed her through two rooms, and at the 
threshold of the third Miss Emerson stood, also with 
moistened eyes. 



: 



EMERSON'S MENTAL MIST 55 

"Father/' she said simply, and there, at his desk, sat 
Emerson — the man whose words had already won Ed- 
ward Bok's boyish interest, and who was destined to 
impress himself upon his life more deeply than any other 
writer. 

Slowly, at the daughter's spoken word, Emerson rose 
with a wonderful quiet dignity, extended his hand, and 
as the boy's hand rested in his, looked him full in the eyes. 

No light of welcome came from those sad yet tender 
eyes. The boy closed upon the hand in his with a lov- 
ing pressure, and for a single moment the eyelids rose, 
a different look came into those eyes, and Edward felt 
a slight, perceptible response of the hand. But that was 
all! 

Quietly he motioned the boy to a chair beside the 
desk. Edward sat down and was about to say some- 
thing, when, instead of seating himself, Emerson walked 
away to the window and stood there softly whistling 
and looking out as if there were no one in the room. 
Edward's eyes had followed Emerson's every footstep, 
when the boy was aroused by hearing a suppressed sob, 
and as he looked around he saw that it came from Miss 
Emerson. Slowly she walked out of the room. The 
boy looked at Miss Alcott, and she put her finger to her 
mouth, indicating silence. He was nonplussed. 

Edward looked toward Emerson standing in that 
window, and wondered what it all meant. Presently 
Emerson left the window and, crossing the room, came 
to his desk, bowing to the boy as he passed, and seated 
himself, not speaking a word and ignoring the presence 
of the two persons in the room. 



50 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

Suddenly the boy heard Miss Alcott say: "Have you 
read this new book by Ruskin yet?" 

Slowly the great master of thought lifted his eyes 
from his desk, turned toward the speaker, rose with 
stately courtesy from his chair, and, bowing to Miss 
Alcott, said with great deliberation: "Did you speak 
to me, madam?" 

The boy was dumfounded! Louisa Alcott, his 
Louisa ! And he did not know her ! Suddenly the 
whole sad truth flashed upon the boy. Tears sprang 
into Miss Alcott's eyes, and she walked to the other 
side of the room. The boy did not know what to say 
or do, so he sat silent. With a deliberate movement 
Emerson resumed his seat, and slowly his eyes roamed 
over the boy sitting at the side of the desk. He felt 
he should say something. 

"I thought, perhaps, Mr. Emerson," he said, "that 
you might be able to favor me with a letter from Car- 
lyle." 

At the mention of the name Carlyle his eyes lifted, 
and he asked: "Carlyle, did you say, sir, Carlyle?" 

"Yes," said the boy, "Thomas Carlyle." 

"Ye-es," Emerson answered slowly. "To be sure, 
Carlyle. Yes, he was here this morning. He will be 
here again to-morrow morning," he added gleefully, 
almost like a child. 

Then suddenly: "You were saying " 

Edward repeated his request. 

"Oh, I think so, I think so," said Emerson, to the 
boy's astonishment. "Let me see. Yes, here in this 
drawer I have many letters from Carlyle." 



EMERSON'S MENTAL MIST 57 

At these words Miss Alcott came from the other part 
of the room, her wet eyes dancing with pleasure and her 
face wreathed in smiles. 

"I think we can help this young man; do you not 
think so, Louisa ?" said Emerson, smiling toward Miss 
Alcott. The whole atmosphere of the room had changed. 
How different the expression of his eyes as now Emer- 
son looked at the boy! "And you have come all the 
way from New York to ask me that ! " he said smilingly 
as the boy told him of his trip. "Now, let us see," he 
said, as he delved in a drawer full of letters. 

For a moment he groped among letters and papers, 
and then, softly closing the drawer, he began that 
ominous low whistle once more, luoked inquiringly at 
each, and dropped his eyes straightway to the papers 
before him on his desk. It was to be only for a few 
moments, then ! Miss Alcott turned away. 

The boy felt the interview could not last much longer. 
So, anxious to have some personal souvenir of the meet- 
ing, he said: "Mr. Emerson, will you be so good as to 
write your name in this book for me? " and he brought 
out an album he had in his pocket. 

"Name?" he asked vaguely. 

"Yes, please," said the boy, "your name: Ralph 
Waldo Emerson." 

But the sound of the name brought no response from 
the eyes. 

"Please write out the name you want," he said finally, 
"and I will copy it for you if I can." 

It was hard for the boy to believe his own senses. 






58 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

But picking up a pen he wrote : " Ralph Waldo Emerson, 
Concord; November 22, 1881." 

Emerson looked at it, and said mournfully: "Thank 
you." Then he picked up the pen, and writing the single 
letter "R" stopped, followed his finger until it reached 
the "W" of Waldo, and studiously copied letter by 
letter ! At the word " Concord" he seemed to hesitate, 
as if the task were too great, but finally copied again, 
letter by letter, until the second "c" was reached. 
"Another 'o/" he said, and interpolated an extra letter 
in the name of the town which he had done so much to 
make famous the world over. When he had finished 
he handed back the book, in which there was written: 

The boy put the book into his pocket; and as he did 
so Emerson's eye caught the slip on his desk, in the 
boy's handwriting, and, witha smile of absolute enlight- 
enment, he turned and said: 

"You wish me to write my name? With pleasure. 
Have you a book with you?" 

Overcome with astonishment, Edward mechanically 
handed him the album once more from his pocket. 
Quickly turning over the leaves, Emerson picked up the 
pen, and pushing aside the slip, wrote without a 
moment's hesitation: 




EMERSON'S MENTAL MIST 59 

The boy was almost dazed at the instantaneous trans- 
formation in the man ! 

Miss Alcott now grasped this moment to say: "Well, 
we must be going ! " 

"So soon?" said Emerson, rising and smiling. Then 
turning to Miss Alcott he said: "It was very kind of 
you, Louisa, to run over this morning and bring your 
young friend." 

Then turning to the boy he said: "Thank you so 
much for coming to see me. You must come over 
again while you are with the Alcotts. Good morning ! 
Isn't it a beautiful day out?" he said, and as he shook 
the boy's hand there was a warm grasp in it, the fingers 
closed around those of the boy, and as Edward looked 
into those deep eyes they twinkled and smiled back. 

The going was all so different from the coming. 
The boy was grateful that his last impression was of a 
moment when the eye kindled and the hand pulsated. 

The two walked back to the Alcott home in an almost 
unbroken silence. Once Edward ventured to remark : 

"You can have no idea, Miss Alcott, how grateful 
I am to you." 

"Well, my boy," she answered, "Phillips Brooks may 
be right: that it is something to have seen him even 
so, than not to have seen him at all. But to us it is so 
sad, so very sad. The twilight is gently closing in." 

And so it proved — just five months afterward. 

Eventful day after eventful day followed in Edward's 



60 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

Boston visit. The following morning he spent with 
Wendell Phillips, who presented him with letters from 
William Lloyd Garrison, Lucretia Mott, and other fa- 
mous persons; and then, writing a letter of introduction 
to Charles Francis Adams, whom he enjoined to give 
the boy autograph letters from his two presidential 
forbears, John Adams and John Quincy Adams, sent 
Edward on his way rejoicing. Mr. Adams received the 
boy with equal graciousness and liberality. Wonder- 
ful letters from the two Adamses were his when he left. 
And then, taking the train for New York, Edward 
Bok went home, sitting up all night in a day-coach for 
the double purpose of saving the cost of a sleeping- 
berth and of having a chance to classify and clarify the 
events of the most wonderful week in his life ! 



CHAPTER VII 
A PLUNGE INTO WALL STREET 

The father of Edward Bok passed away when Edward 
was eighteen years of age, and it was found that the 
amount of the small insurance left behind would barely 
cover the funeral expenses. Hence the two boys faced 
the problem of supporting the mother on their meagre 
income. They determined to have but one goal: to 
put their mother back to that life of comfort to which 
she had been brought up and was formerly accustomed. 
But that was not possible on their income. It was 
evident that other employment must be taken on dur- 
ing the evenings. 

The city editor of the Brooklyn Eagle had given Ed- 
ward the assignment of covering the news of the thea- 
tres; he was to ascertain " coming attractions" and any 
other dramatic items of news interest. One Monday 
evening, when a multiplicity of events crowded the 
reportorial corps, Edward was delegated to "cover" 
the Grand Opera House, where Rose Coghlan was to 
appear in a play that had already been seen in Brook- 
lyn, and called, therefore, for no special dramatic criti- 
cism. Yet The Eagle wanted to cover it. It so happened 
that Edward had made another appointment for that 
evening which he considered more important, and yet 
not wishing to disappoint his editor he accepted the 
assignment. He had seen Miss Coghlan in the play; 

61 



62 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

so he kept his other engagement, and without approach- 
ing the theatre he wrote a notice to the effect that Miss 
Coghlan acted her part, if anything, with greater power 
than on her previous Brooklyn visit, and so forth, and 
handed it in to his city editor the next morning on his 
way to business. 

Unfortunately, however, Miss Coghlan had been taken 
ill just before the raising of the curtain, and, there 
being no understudy, no performance had been given 
and the audience dismissed. All this was duly com- 
mented upon by the New York morning newspapers. 
Edward read this bit of news on the ferry-boat, but 
his notice was in the hands of the city editor. 

On reaching home that evening he found a summons 
from The Eagle, and the next morning he received a re- 
buke, and was informed that his chances with the paper 
were over. The ready acknowledgment and evident 
regret of the crestfallen boy, however, appealed to the 
editor, and before the end of the week he called the boy 
to him and promised him another chance, provided the 
lesson had sunk in. It had, and it left a lasting impres- 
sion, It was always a cause of profound gratitude with 
Edward Bok that his first attempt at "faking" occurred 
so early in his journalistic career that he could take the 
experience to heart and profit by it. 

One evening when Edward was attending a theatrical 
performance, he noticed the restlessness of the women 
in the audience between the acts. In those days it was, 
even more than at present, the custom for the men to go 
out between the acts, leaving the women alone. Edward 
looked at the programme in his hands. It was a large 



A PLUNGE INTO WALL STREET 63 

eleven-by-nine sheet, four pages, badly printed, with 
nothing in it save the cast, a few advertisements, and 
an announcement of some coming attraction. The boy 
mechanically folded the programme, turned it long side 
up and wondered whether a programme of this smaller 
size, easier to handle, with an attractive cover and 
some reading-matter, would not be profitable. 

When he reached home he made up an eight-page 
"dummy," pasted an attractive picture on the cover, 
indicated the material to go inside, and the next morn- 
ing showed it to the manager of the theatre. The pro- 
gramme as issued was an item of considerable expense to 
the management; Edward offered to supply his new 
programme without cost, provided he was given the ex- 
clusive right, and the manager at once accepted the 
offer. Edward then sought a friend, Frederic L. Colver, 
who had a larger experience in publishing and advertis- 
ing, with whom he formed a partnership. Deciding that 
immediately upon the issuance of their first programme 
the idea was likely to be taken up by the other theatres, 
Edward proceeded to secure the exclusive rights to 
them all. The two young publishers solicited their ad- 
vertisements on the way to and from business morn- 
ings and evenings, and shortly the first smaller-sized 
theatre programme, now in use in all theatres, appeared. 
The venture was successful from the start, returning a 
comfortable profit each week. Such advertisements as 
they could not secure for cash they accepted in trade; 
and this latter arrangement assisted materially in main- 
taining the households of the two publishers. 

Edward's partner now introduced him into a debating 



64 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

society called The Philomathean Society, made up of 
young men connected with Plymouth Church, of which 
Henry Ward Beecher was pastor. The debates took the 
form of a miniature congress, each member representing 
a State, and it is a curious coincidence that Edward 
drew, by lot, the representation of the Commonwealth 
of Pennsylvania. The members took these debates 
very seriously; no subject was too large for them to 
discuss. Edward became intensely interested in the 
society's doings, and it was not long before he was 
elected president. 

The society derived its revenue from the dues of its 
members and from an annual concert given under its 
auspices in Plymouth Church. When the time for the 
concert under Edward's presidency came around, he de- 
cided that the occasion should be unique so as to insure 
a crowded house. He induced Mr. Beecher to preside; 
he got General Grant's promise to come and speak; he 
secured the gratuitous services of Emma C. Thursby, 
Annie Louise Cary, Clara Louise Kellogg, and Evelyn 
Lyon Hegeman, all of the first rank of concert-singers of 
that day, with the result that the church could not ac- 
commodate the crowd which naturally was attracted by 
such a programme. 

It now entered into the minds of the two young 
theatre-programme publishers to extend their publish- 
ing interests by issuing an " organ" for their society, 
and the first issue of The Philomathean Review duly ap- 
peared with Mr. Colver as its publisher and Edward 
Bok as editor. Edward had now an opportunity to try 
his wings in an editorial capacity. The periodical was, 



A PLUNGE INTO. WALL STREET 65 

of course, essentially an organ of the society; but gradu- 
ally it took on a more general character, so that its 
circulation might extend over a larger portion of Brook- 
lyn. With this extension came a further broadening of 
its contents, which now began to take on a literary 
character, and it was not long before its two projectors 
realized that the periodical had outgrown its name. It 
was decided — late in 1884 — to change the name to 
The Brooklyn Magazine. 

There was a periodical called The Plymouth Pulpit, 
which presented verbatim reports of the sermons of Mr. 
Beecher, and Edward got the idea of absorbing the 
Pulpit in the Magazine. But that required more capi- 
tal than he and his partner could command. They con- 
sulted Mr. Beecher, who, attracted by the enterprise of 
the two boys, sent them with letters of introduction to 
a few of his most influential parishioners, with the result 
that the pair soon had a sufficient financial backing by 
some of the leading men of Brooklyn, like A. A. Low, 
H. B. Claflin, Rufus T. Bush, Henry W. Slocum, Seth 
Low, Rossiter W. Raymond, Horatio C. King, and 
others. 

The young publishers could now go on. Under- 
standing that Mr. Beecher's sermons might give a 
partial and denominational tone to the magazine, Ed- 
ward arranged to publish also in its pages verbatim re- 
ports of the sermons of the Reverend T. De Witt Tal- 
mage, whose reputation was then at its zenith. The 
young editor now realized that he had a rather heavy 
cargo of sermons to carry each month; accordingly, in 
order that his magazine might not appear to be ex- 



66 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

clusively religious, he determined that its literary con- 
tents should be of a high order and equal in interest to 
the sermons. But this called for additional capital, and 
the capital furnished was not for that purpose. 

It is here that Edward's autographic acquaintances 
stood him in good stead. He went in turn to each noted 
person he had met, explained his plight and stated his 
ambitions, with the result that very soon the magazine 
and the public were surprised at the distinction of the 
contributors to The Brooklyn Magazine. Each number 
contained a noteworthy list of them, and when an ar- 
ticle by the President of the United States, then Ruther- 
ford B. Hayes, opened one of the numbers, the public 
was astonished, since up to that time the unwritten rule 
that a President's writings were confined to official 
pronouncements had scarcely been broken. William 
Dean Howells, General Grant, General Sherman, 
Phillips Brooks, General Sheridan, Canon Farrar, Car- 
dinal Gibbons, Marion Harland, Margaret Sangster — 
the most prominent men and women of the day, some 
of whom had never written for magazines — began to 
appear in the young editor's contents. Editors wondered 
how the publishers could afford it, whereas, in fact, not 
a single name represented an honorarium. Each con- 
tributor had come gratuitously to the aid of the editor. 

At first, the circulation of the magazine permitted 
the boys to wrap the copies themselves; and then they, 
with two other boys, would carry as huge bundles as 
they could lift, put them late at night on the front 
platform of the street-cars, and take them to the post- 
office. Thus the boys absolutely knew the growth of 



A PLUNGE INTO WALL STREET 67 

their circulation by the weight of their bundles and the 
number of their front-platform trips each month. 
Soon a baker's hand-cart was leased for an evening, and 
that was added to the capacity of the front platforms. 
Then one eventful month it was seen that a horse-truck 
would have to be employed. Within three weeks, a 
double horse-truck was necessary, and three trips had 
to be made. 

By this time Edward Bok had become so intensely 
interested in the editorial problem, and his partner in 
the periodical publishing part, that they decided to 
sell out their theatre-programme interests and devote 
themselves to the magazine and its rapidly increasing 
circulation. All of Edward's editorial work had nat- 
urally to be done outside of his business hours, in other 
words, in the evenings and on Sundays; and the young 
editor found himself fully occupied. He now revived 
the old idea of selecting a subject and having ten or 
twenty writers express their views on it. It was the old 
symposium idea, but it had not been presented in 
American journalism for a number of years. He con- 
ceived the topic " Should America Have a Westminster 
Abbey?" and induced some twenty of the foremost 
men and women of the day to discuss it. When the 
discussion was presented in the magazine, the form being 
new and the theme novel, Edward was careful to send 
advance sheets to the newspapers, which treated it at 
length in reviews and editorials, with marked effect upon 
the circulation of the magazine. 

All this time, while Edward Bok was an editor in his 
evenings he was, during the day, a stenographer and 



68 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

clerk of the Western Union Telegraph Company. The 
two occupations were hardly compatible, but each meant 
a source of revenue to the boy, and he felt he must hold 
on to both. 

After his father passed away, the position of the boy's 
desk — next to the empty desk of his father — was a 
cause of constant depression to him. This was under- 
stood by the attorney for the company, Mr. Clarence 
Cary, who sought the head of Edward's department, 
with the result that Edward was transferred to Mr. 
Cary's department as the attorney's private stenog- 
rapher. 

Edward had been much attracted to Mr. Cary, and 
the attorney believed in the boy, and decided to show 
his interest by pushing him along. He had heard of 
the dual role which Edward was playing; he bought a 
copy of the magazine, and was interested. Edward now 
worked with new zest for his employer and friend; while 
in every free moment he read law, feeling that, as almost 
all his forbears had been lawyers, he might perhaps be 
destined for the bar. This acquaintance with the funda- 
mental basis of law, cursory as it was, became like a 
gospel to Edward Bok. In later years, he was taught 
its value by repeated experience in his contact with cor- 
porate laws, contracts, property leases, and other mat- 
ters; and he determined that, whatever the direction of 
activity taken by his sons, each should spend at least 
a year in the study of law. 

The control of the Western Union Telegraph Com- 
pany had now passed into the hands of Jay Gould and 
his companions, and in the many legal matters arising 



A PLUNGE INTO WALL STREET 69 

therefrom, Edward saw much, in his office, of "the little 
wizard of Wall Street." One day, the financier had to 
dictate a contract, and, coming into Mr. Cary's office, 
decided to dictate it then and there. An hour after- 
ward Edward delivered the copy of the contract to Mr. 
Gould, and the financier was so struck by its accuracy 
and by the legibility of the handwriting that after- 
ward he almost daily "happened in" to dictate to Mr. 
Cary's stenographer. Mr. Gould's private stenog- 
rapher was in his own office in lower Broadway; but 
on his way down-town in the morning Mr. Gould in- 
variably stopped at the Western Union Building, at 195 
Broadway, and the habit resulted in the installation of a 
private office there. He borrowed Edward to do his 
stenography. The boy found himself taking not only 
letters from Mr. Gould's dictation, but, what interested 
him particularly, the financier's orders to buy and sell 
stock. 

Edward watched the effects on the stock-market of 
these little notes which he wrote out and then shot 
through a pneumatic tube to Mr. Gould's brokers. 
Naturally, the results enthralled the boy, and he told 
Mr. Cary about his discoveries. This, in turn, inter- 
ested Mr. Cary; Mr. Gould's dictations were frequently 
given in Mr. Cary's own office, where, as his desk was 
not ten feet from that of his stenographer, the attorney 
heard them, and began to buy and sell according to 
the magnate's decisions. 

Edward had now become tremendously interested in 
the stock game which he saw constantly played by the 
great financier; and having a little money saved up, 



70 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

he concluded that he would follow in the wake of Mr. 
Gould's orders. One day, he naively mentioned his 
desire to Mr. Gould, when the financier seemed in a 
particularly favorable frame of mind; but Edward did 
not succeed in drawing out the advice he hoped for. " At 
least," reasoned Edward, "he knew of my intention; 
and if he considered it a violation of confidence he would 
have said as much." 

Construing the financier's silence to mean at least not 
a prohibition, Edward went to his Sunday-school teacher, 
who was a member of a Wall Street brokerage firm, laid 
the facts before him, and asked him if he would buy for 
him some Western Union stock. Edward explained, 
however, that somehow he did not like the gambling 
idea of buying "on margin," and preferred to purchase 
the stock outright. He was shown that this would mean 
smaller profits; but the boy had in mind the loss of his 
father's fortune, brought about largely by "stock 
margins," and he did not intend to follow that example. 
So, prudently, under the brokerage of his Sunday-school 
teacher, and guided by the tips of no less a man than the 
controlling factor of stock-market finance, Edward Bok 
took his firsj; plunge in Wall Street ! 

Of course the boy's buying and selling tallied pre- 
cisely with the rise and fall of Western Union stock. 
It could scarcely have been otherwise. Jay Gould had 
the cards all in his hands; and as he bought and sold, 
so Edward bought and sold. The trouble was, the com- 
bination did not end there, as Edward might have 
foreseen had he been older and thus wiser. For as 
Edward bought and sold, so did his Sunday-school 



A PLUNGE INTO WALL STREET 71 

teacher, and all his customers who had seen the won- 
derful acumen of their broker in choosing exactly the 
right time to buy and sell Western Union. But Ed- 
ward did not know this. 

One day a rumor became current on the Street that 
an agreement had been reached by the Western Union 
Company and its bitter rival, the American Union 
Telegraph Company, whereby the former was to ab- 
sorb the latter. Naturally, the report affected Western 
Union stock. But Mr. Gould denied it in toto; said the 
report was not true, no such consolidation was in view 
or had even been considered. Down tumbled the stock, 
of course. 

But it so happened that Edward knew the rumor 
was true, because Mr. Gould, some time before, had 
personally given him the contract of consolidation to 
copy. The next day a rumor to the effect that the 
American Union was to absorb the Western Union ap- 
peared on the first page of every New York newspaper. 
Edward knew exactly whence this rumor emanated. 
He had heard it talked over. Again, Western Union 
stock dropped several points. Then he noticed that 
Mr. Gould became a heavy buyer. So became Ed- 
ward — as heavy as he could. Jay Gould pooh-poohed 
the latest rumor. The boy awaited developments. 

On Sunday afternoon, Edward's Sunday-school teacher 
asked the boy to walk home with him, and on reaching 
the house took him into the study and asked him whether 
he felt justified in putting all his savings in Western 
Union just at that time when the price was tumbling 
so fast and the market was so unsteady. Edward as- 



72 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

sured his teacher that he was right, although he explained 
that he could not disclose the basis of his assurance. 

Edward thought his teacher looked worried, and after 
a little there came the revelation that he, seeing that 
Edward was buying to his limit, had likewise done so. 
But the broker had bought on margin, and had his 
margin wiped out by the decline in the stock caused 
by the rumors. He explained to Edward that he could 
recoup his losses, heavy though they were — in fact, he 
explained that nearly everything he possessed was in- 
volved — if Edward's basis was sure and the stock would 
recover. 

Edward keenly felt the responsibility placed upon 
him. He could never clearly diagnose his feelings when 
he saw his teacher in this new light. The broker's 
"customers" had been hinted at, and the boy of eighteen 
wondered how far his responsibility went, and how 
many persons were involved. But the deal came out 
all right, for when, three days afterward, the contract 
was made public, Western Union, of course, skyrocketed, 
Jay Gould sold out, Edward sold out, the teacher- 
broker sold out, and all the customers sold out ! 

How long a string it was Edward never discovered, 
but he determined there and then to end his Wall Street 
experience; his original amount had multiplied; he was 
content to let well enough alone, and from that day to 
this Edward Bok has kept out of Wall Street. He had 
seen enough of its manipulations; and, although on 
"the inside," he decided that the combination of his 
teacher and his customers was a responsibility too great 
for him to carry. 



A PLUNGE INTO WALL STREET 73 

Furthermore, Edward decided to leave the Western 
Union. The longer he remained, the less he liked its 
atmosphere. And the closer his contact with Jay 
Gould the more doubtful he became of the wisdom of 
such an association and perhaps its unconscious influ- 
ence upon his own life in its formative period. 

In fact, it was an experience with Mr. Gould that 
definitely fixed Edward's determination. The financier 
decided one Saturday to leave on a railroad inspection 
tour on the following Monday. It was necessary that 
a special meeting of one of his railroad interests should 
be held before his departure, and he fixed the meeting 
for Sunday at eleven-thirty at his residence on Fifth 
Avenue. He asked Edward to be there to take the notes 
of the meeting. 

The meeting was protracted, and at one o'clock Mr. 
Gould suggested an adjournment for luncheon, the meet- 
ing to reconvene at two. Turning to Edward, the 
financier said: "You may go out to luncheon and 
return in an hour." So, on Sunday afternoon, with the 
Windsor Hotel on the opposite corner as the only visible 
place to get something to eat, but where he couta not 
afford to go, Edward, with just fifteen cents in his 
pocket, was turned out to find a luncheon place. 

He bought three apples for five cents — all that he 
could afford to spend, and even this meant that he must 
walk home from the ferry to his house in Brooklyn — 
and these he ate as he walked up and down Fifth Avenue 
until his hour was over. When the meeting ended at 
three o'clock, Mr. Gould said that, as he was leaving for 
the West early next morning, he would like Edward 



74 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

to write out his notes, and have them at his house by 
eight o'clock. There were over forty note-book pages 
of minutes. The remainder of Edward's Sunday after- 
noon and evening was spent in transcribing the notes. 
By rising at half past five the next morning he reached 
Mr. Gould's house at a quarter to eight, handed him 
the minutes, and was dismissed without so much as a 
word of thanks or a nod of approval from the finan- 
cier. 

Edward felt that this exceeded the limit of fair treat- 
ment by employer of employee. He spoke of it to Mr. 
Cary, and asked whether he would object if he tried to 
get away from such influence and secure another posi- 
tion. His employer asked the boy in which direction he 
would like to go, and Edward unhesitatingly suggested 
the publishing business. He talked it over from every 
angle with his employer, and Mr. Cary not only agreed 
with him that his decision was wise, but promised to 
find him a position such as he had in mind. 

It was not long before Mr. Cary made good his word, 
and told Edward that his friend Henry Holt, the pub- 
Usher, would like to give him a trial. 

The day before he was to leave the Western Union 
Telegraph Company the fact of his resignation became 
known to Mr. Gould. The financier told the boy there 
was no reason for his leaving, and that he would per- 
sonally see to it that a substantial increase was made in 
his salary. Edward explained that the salary, while of 
importance to him, did not influence him so much as 
securing a position in a business in which he felt he 
would be happier. 



A PLUNGE INTO WALL STREET 75 

"And what business is that?" asked the financier. 

"The publishing of books," replied the boy. 

"You are making a great mistake," answered the lit- 
tle man, fixing his keen gray eyes on the boy. "Books 
are a luxury. The public spends its largest money on 
necessities: on what it can't do without. It must tele- 
graph; it need not read. It can read in libraries. A 
promising boy such as you are, with his life before him, 
should choose the right sort of business, not the wrong 



one." 



But, as facts proved, the "little wizard of Wall Street" 
was wrong in his prediction; Edward Bok was not 
choosing the wrong business. 

Years afterward when Edward was cruising up the 
Hudson with a yachting party one Saturday afternoon, 
the sight of Jay Gould's mansion, upon approaching 
Irvington, awakened the desire of the women on board 
to see his wonderful orchid collection. Edward ex- 
plained his previous association with the financier and 
offered to recall himself to him, if the party wished to 
take the chance of recognition. A note was written to 
Mr. Gould, and sent ashore, and the answer came back 
that they were welcome to visit the orchid houses. Jay 
Gould, in person, received the party, and, placing it 
under the personal conduct of his gardener, turned to 
Edward and, indicating a bench, said: "Come and sit 
down here with me." 

"Well," said the financier, who was in his domestic 
mood, quite different from his Wall Street aspect, "I 
see in the papers that you seem to be making your way 
in the publishing business." 



J 6 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

Edward expressed surprise that the Wall Street mag- 
nate had followed his work. 

"I have because I always felt you had it in you to 
make a successful man. But not in that business," he 
added quickly. "You were born for the Street. You 
would have made a great success there, and that is what 
I had in mind for you. In the publishing business you 
will go just so far; in the Street you could have gone as 
far as you liked. There is room there; there is none in 
the publishing business. It's not too late now, for that 
matter," continued the "little wizard," fastening his 
steel eyes on the lad beside him ! 

And Edward Bok has often speculated whither Jay 
Gould might have led him. To many a young man, a 
suggestion from such a source would have seemed the 
one to heed and follow. But Edward Bok's instinct 
never failed him. He felt that his path lay far apart 
from that of Jay Gould — and the farther the better ! 

In 1882 Edward, with a feeling of distinct relief, left 
the employ of the Western Union Telegraph Company 
and associated himself with the publishing business in 
which he had correctly divined that his future lay. 

His chief regret on leaving his position was in sever- 
ing the close relations, almost as of father and son, be- 
tween Mr. Cary and himself. When Edward was left 
alone, with the passing away of his father, Clarence 
Cary had put his sheltering arm around the lonely boy, 
and with the tremendous encouragement of the phrase 
that the boy never forgot, "I think you have it in you, 
Edward, to make a successful man," he took him under 
his wing. It was a turning-point in Edward Bok's 



A PLUNGE INTO WALL STREET 77 

life, as he felt at the time and as he saw more clearly 
afterward. 

He remained in touch with his friend, however, keep- 
ing him advised of his progress in everything he did, not 
only at that time, but all through his later years. And 
it was given to Edward to feel the deep satisfaction of 
having Mr. Gary say, before he passed away, that the 
boy had more than justified the confidence reposed in 
him. Mr. Cary lived to see him well on his way, until, 
indeed, Edward had had the proud happiness of intro- 
ducing to his benefactor the son who bore his name, 
Cary William Bok. 



CHAPTER VIII 
STARTING A NEWSPAPER SYNDICATE 

Edward felt that his daytime hours, spent in a pub- 
lishing atmosphere as stenographer with Henry Holt and 
Company, were more in line with his editorial duties 
during the evenings. The Brooklyn Magazine was now 
earning a comfortable income for its two young pro- 
prietors, and their backers were entirely satisfied with 
the way it was being conducted. In fact, one of these 
backers, Mr. Rufus T. Bush, associated with the 
Standard Oil Company, who became especially inter- 
ested, thought he saw in the success of the two boys a 
possible opening for one of his sons, who was shortly 
to be graduated from college. He talked to the pub- 
lisher and editor about the idea, but the boys showed by 
their books that while there was a reasonable income for 
them, not wholly dependent on the magazine, there 
was no room for a third. 

Mr. Bush now suggested that he buy the magazine 
for his son, alter its name, enlarge its scope, and make of 
it a national periodical. Arrangements were concluded, 
those who had financially backed the venture were 
fully paid, and the two boys received a satisfactory 
amount for their work in building up the magazine. 
Mr. Bush asked Edward to suggest a name for the new 
periodical, and in the following month of May, 1887, 

The Brooklyn Magazine became The American Maga- 

78 



STARTING A NEWSPAPER SYNDICATE 79 

zine> with its publication office in New York. But, 
though a great deal of money was spent on the new 
magazine, it did not succeed. Mr. Bush sold his in- 
terest in the periodical, which, once more changing its 
name, became The Cosmopolitan Magazine. Since then 
it has passed through the hands of several owners, but 
the name has remained the same. Before Mr. Bush sold 
The American Magazine he had urged Edward to come 
back to it as its editor, with promise of financial sup- 
port; but the young man felt instinctively that his return 
would not be wise. The magazine had been The Cos- 
mopolitan only a short time when the new owners, Mr. 
Paul J, Slicht and Mr. E. D. Walker, also solicited the 
previous editor to accept reappointment. But Edward, 
feeling that his baby had been rechristened too often 
for him to father it again, declined the proposition. He 
had not heard the last of it, however, for, by a curious 
coincidence, its subsequent owner, entirely ignorant of 
Edward's previous association with the magazine, in- 
vited him to connect himself with it. Thus three times 
could Edward Bok have returned to the magazine for 
whose creation he was responsible. 

Edward was now without editorial cares; but he had 
already, even before disposing of the magazine, embarked 
on another line of endeavor. In sending to a number of 
newspapers the advance sheets of a particularly strik- 
ing "feature" in one of his numbers of The Brooklyn 
Magazine, it occurred to him that he was furnishing a 
good deal of valuable material to these papers without 
cost. It is true his magazine was receiving the adver- 
tising value of editorial comment; but the boy wondered 



80 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

whether the newspapers would not be willing to pay for 
the privilege of simultaneous publication. An inquiry 
or two proved that they would. Thus Edward stumbled 
upon the "syndicate" plan of furnishing the same ar- 
ticle to a group of newspapers, one in each city, for 
simultaneous publication. He looked over the ground, 
and found that while his idea was not a new one, since 
two " syndicate" agencies already existed, the field was 
by no means fully covered, and that the success of a 
third agency would depend entirely upon its ability to 
furnish the newspapers with material equally good or 
better than they received from the others. After fol- 
lowing the material furnished by these agencies for two 
or three weeks, Edward decided that there was plenty 
of room for his new ideas. 

He discussed the matter with his former magazine 
partner, Colver, and suggested that if they could induce 
Mr. Beecher to write a weekly comment on current 
events for the newspapers it would make an auspicious 
beginning. They decided to talk it over with the fa- 
mous preacher. For to be a "Plymouth boy" — that is, 
to go to the Plymouth Church Sunday-school and to 
attend church there — was to know personally and be- 
come devoted to Henry Ward Beecher. And the two 
were synonymous. There was no distance between Mr. 
Beecher and his "Plymouth boys." Each understood 
the other. The tie was that of absolute comradeship. 

"I don't believe in it, boys," said Mr. Beecher when 
Edward and his friend broached the syndicate letter 
to him. "No one yet ever made a cent out of my sup- 
posed literary work." 



STARTING A NEWSPAPER SYNDICATE 81 

All the more reason, was the argument, why some one 
should. 

Mr. Beecher smiled ! How well he knew the youthful 
enthusiasm that rushes in, etc. 

"Well, all right, boys ! I like your pluck," he finally 
said. "I'll help you if I can." 

The boys agreed to pay Mr. Beecher a weekly sum of 
two hundred and fifty dollars — which he knew was con- 
siderable for them. 

When the first article had been written they took him 
their first check. He looked at it quizzically, and then 
at the boys. Then he said simply: "Thank you." He 
took a pin and pinned the check to his desk. There it 
remained, much to the curiosity of the two boys. 

The following week he had written the second article 
and the boys gave him another check. He pinned that 
up over the other. "I like to look at them," was his only 
explanation, as he saw Edward's inquiring glance one 
morning. 

The third check was treated the same way. When the 
boys handed him the fourth, one morning, as he was 
pinning it up over the others, he asked: "When do you 
get your money from the newspapers?" 

He was told that the bills were going out that morning 
for the four letters constituting a month's service. 

"I see," he remarked. 

A fortnight passed, then one day Mr. Beecher asked: 
"Well, how are the checks coming in?" 

"Very well," he was assured. 

"Suppose you let me see how much you've got in," he 
suggested, and the boys brought the accounts to him. 



82 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

After looking at them he said: "That's very interest- 
ing. How much have you in the bank?" 

He was told the balance, less the checks given to him. 
"But I haven't turned them in yet," he explained. 
"Anyhow, you have enough in bank to meet the checks 
you have given me, and a profit besides, haven't you?" 

He was assured they had. 

Then, taking his bank-book from a drawer, he un- 
pinned the six checks on his desk, indorsed each thus: 






HeetU. 




wrote a deposit-slip, and, handing the book to Edward, 
said : 

"Just hand that in at the bank as you go by, will 
you?" 

Edward was very young then, and Mr. Beecher's 
methods of financiering seemed to him quite in fine with 
current notions of the Plymouth pastor's lack of busi- 
ness knowledge. But as the years rolled on the incident 
appeared in a new light — a striking example of the great 
preacher's wonderful considerateness. 

Edward had offered to help Mr. Beecher with his cor- 
respondence; at the close of one afternoon, while he was 
with the Plymouth pastor at work, an organ-grinder 
and a little girl came under the study window. A cold, 
driving rain was pelting down. In a moment Mr. 



STARTING A NEWSPAPER SYNDICATE 83 

Beecher noticed the girl's bare toes sticking out of her 
worn shoes. 

He got up, went into the hall, and called for one of 
his granddaughters. 

"Got any good, strong rain boots?" he asked when 
she appeared. 

"Why, yes, grandfather. Why?" was the answer. 

"More than one pair?" Mr. Beecher asked. 

"Yes, two or three, I think." 

"Bring me your strongest pair, will you, dear?" he 
asked. And as the girl looked at him with surprise he 
said: "Just one of my notions." 

"Now, just bring that child into the house and put 
them on her feet for me, will you?" he said when the 
shoes came. "I'll be able to work so much better." 

One rainy day, as Edward was coming up from Ful- 
ton Ferry with Mr. Beecher, they met an old woman 
soaked with the rain. "Here, you take this, my good 
woman," said the clergyman, putting his umbrella over 
her head and thrusting the handle into the astonished 
woman's hand. "Let's get into this," he said to Ed- 
ward simply, as he hailed a passing car. 

"There is a good deal of fraud about beggars," he re- 
marked as he waved a sot away from him one day; 
"but that doesn't apply to women and children," he 
added; and he never passed such mendicants without 
stopping. All the stories about their being tools in the 
hands of accomplices failed to convince him. "They're 
women and children," he would say, and that settled it 
for him. 

"What's the matter, son? Stuck?" he said once to 



84 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

a newsboy who was crying with a heavy bundle of 
papers under his arm. 

"Come along with me, then," said Mr. Beecher, tak- 
ing the boy's hand and leading him into the newspaper 
office a few doors up the street. 

"This boy is stuck," he simply said to the man be- 
hind the counter. "Guess The Eagle can stand it better 
than this boy; don't you think so?" 

To the grown man Mr. Beecher rarely gave charity. 
He believed in a return for his alms. 

"Why don't you go to work?" he asked of a man who 
approached him one day in the street. 

"Can't find any," said the man. 

"Looked hard for it?" was the next question. 

"I have," and the man looked Mr. Beecher in the 
eye. 

"Want some?" asked Mr. Beecher. 

"I do," said the man. 

"Come with me," said the preacher. And then to 
Edward, as they walked along with the man following 
behind, he added: "That man is honest." 

"Let this man sweep out the church," he said to the 
sexton when they had reached Plymouth Church. 

"But, Mr. Beecher," replied the sexton with wounded 
pride, "it doesn't need it." 

"Don't tell him so, though," said Mr. Beecher with a 
merry twinkle of the eye; and the sexton understood. 

Mr. Beecher was constantly thoughtful of a struggling 
young man's welfare, even at the expense of his own 
material comfort. Anxious to save him from the labor 
of writing out the newspaper articles, Edward, himself 



STARTING A NEWSPAPER SYNDICATE 85 

employed during the daylight hours which Mr. Beecher 
preferred for his original work, suggested a stenographer. 
The idea appealed to Mr. Beecher, for he was very busy 
just then. He hesitated, but as Edward persisted, he 
said: "All right; let him come to-morrow.' ' 

The next day he said: "I asked that stenographer 
friend of yours not to come again. No use of my trying 
to dictate. I am too old to learn new tricks. Much 
easier for me to write myself." 

Shortly after that, however, Mr. Beecher dictated to 
Edward some material for a book he was writing. Ed- 
ward naturally wondered at this, and asked the stenog- 
rapher what had happened. 

"Nothing," he said. "Only Mr. Beecher asked me 
how much it would cost you to have me come to him 
each week. I told him, and then he sent me away." 

That was Henry Ward Beecher ! 

Edward Bok was in the formative period between 
boyhood and young manhood when impressions meant 
lessons, and associations meant ideals. Mr. Beecher 
never disappointed. The closer one got to him, the 
greater he became — in striking contrast to most public 
men, as Edward had already learned. 

Then, his interests and sympathies were enormously 
wide. He took in so much! One day Edward was 
walking past Fulton Market, in New York City, with 
Mr. Beecher. 

"Never skirt a market," the latter said; "always go 
through it. It's the next best thing, in the winter, to 
going South." 



86 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

Of course all the marketmen knew him, and they 
knew, too, his love for green things. 

"What do you think of these apples, Mr. Beecher?" 
one marketman would stop to ask. 

Mr. Beecher would answer heartily: "Fine! Don't 
see how you grow them. All that my trees bear is a 
crop of scale. Still, the blossoms are beautiful in the 
spring, and I like an apple-leaf. Ever examine one?" 
The marketman never had. "Well, now, do, the next 
time you come across an apple-tree in the spring." 

And thus he would spread abroad an interest in the 
beauties of nature which were commonly passed over. 

"Wonderful man, Beecher is," said a market dealer 
in green goods once. "I had handled thousands of 
bunches of celery in my life and never noticed how beau- 
tiful its top leaves were until he picked up a bunch once 
and told me all about it. Now I haven't the heart to 
cut the leaves off when a customer asks me." 

His idea of his own vegetable-gardening at Boscobel, 
his Peekskill home, was very amusing. One day Edward 
was having a hurried dinner, preparatory to catching 
the New York train. Mr. Beecher sat beside the boy, 
telling him of some things he wished done in Brooklyn. 

"No, I thank you," said Edward, as the maid offered 
him some potatoes. 

"Look here, young man," said Mr. Beecher, "don't 
pass those potatoes so lightly. They're of my own 
raising — and I reckon they cost me about a dollar a 
piece," he added with a twinkle in his eye. 

He was an education in so many ways ! One instance 
taught Edward the great danger of passionate speech 



STARTING A NEWSPAPER SYNDICATE 87 

that might unconsciously wound, and the manliness of 
instant recognition of the error. Swayed by an oc- 
casion, or by the responsiveness of an audience, Mr. 
Beecher would sometimes say something which was not 
meant as it sounded. One evening, at a great political 
meeting at Cooper Union, Mr. Beecher was at his 
brightest and wittiest. In the course of his remarks he 
had occasion to refer to ex-President Hayes; some one 
in the audience called out: "He was a softy !" 

"No," was Mr. Beecher's quick response. "The 
country needed a poultice at that time, and got it." 

"He's dead now, anyhow," responded the voice. 

"Not dead, my friend: he only sleepeth." 

It convulsed the audience, of course, and the reporters 
took it down in their books. 

After the meeting Edward drove home with Mr. 
Beecher. After a while he asked: "Well, how do you 
think it went?" 

Edward replied he thought it went very well, except 
that he did not like the reference to ex-President Hayes. 

"What reference? What did I say?" 

Edward repeated it. 

"Did I say that?" he asked. Edward looked at 
him. Mr. Beecher's face was tense. After a few mo- 
ments he said: "That's generally the way with extem- 
poraneous remarks: they are always dangerous. The 
best impromptu speeches and remarks are the carefully 
prepared kind," he added. 

Edward told him he regretted the reference because 
he knew that General Hayes would read it in the 
New York papers, and he would be nonplussed to un- 



88 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

derstand it, considering the cordial relations which 
existed between the two men. Mr. Beecher knew of 
Edward's relations with the ex-President, and they had 
often talked of him together. 

Nothing more was said of the incident. When the 
Beecher home was reached Mr. Beecher said: "Just 
come in a minute." He went straight to his desk, and 
wrote and wrote. It seemed as if he would never stop. 
At last he handed Edward an eight-page letter, closely 
written, addressed to General Hayes. 

"Read that, and mail it, please, on your way home. 
Then it'll get there just as quickly as the New York 
papers will." 

It was a superbly fine letter, — one of those letters 
which only Henry Ward Beecher could write in his ten- 
derest moods. And the reply which came from Fremont, 
Ohio, was no less fine ! 



CHAPTER IX 
ASSOCIATION WITH HENRY WARD BEECHER 

As a letter- writer, Henry Ward Beecher was a con- 
stant wonder. He never wrote a commonplace letter. 
There was always himself in it — in whatever mood it 
found him. 

It was not customary for him to see all his mail. As a 
rule Mrs. Beecher opened it, and attended to most of 
it. One evening Edward was helping Mrs. Beecher 
handle an unusually large number of letters. He was 
reading one when Mr. Beecher happened to come in 
and read what otherwise he would not have seen: 

Reverend Henry Ward Beecher. 
Dear Sir: 

I journeyed over from my New York hotel yesterday morn- 
ing to hear you preach, expecting, of course, to hear an ex- 
position of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Instead, I heard a 
political harangue, with no reason or cohesion in it. You 

made an ass of yourself. , r . , 

J Very truly yours, 



"That's to the point," commented Mr. Beecher with 
a smile; and then seating himself at his desk, he turned 
the sheet over and wrote: 

My Dear Sir:— 

I am sorry you should have taken so long a journey to hear 
Christ preached, and then heard what you are polite enough 

89 



oo THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

to call a "political harangue." I am sorry, too, that you 
think I made an ass of myself. In this connection I have but 
one consolation: that you didn't make an ass of yourself. 
The Lord did that. ^mn Ward Beecher. 



When the Reverend T. De Witt Talmage began to 
come into public notice in Brooklyn, some of Mr. 
Beecher's overzealous followers unwisely gave the im- 
pression that the Plymouth preacher resented sharing 
with another the pulpit fame which he alone had so 
long unquestioningly held. Nothing, of course, was 
further from Mr. Beecher's mind. As a matter of 
fact, the two men were exceedingly good friends. Mr. 
Beecher once met Doctor Talmage in a crowded business 
thoroughfare, where they got so deeply interested in 
each others talk that they sat down in some chairs 
standing in front of a furniture store. A gathering 
throng of intensely amused people soon brought the two 
men to the realization that they had better move. 
Then Mr. Beecher happened to see that back of their 
heads had been, respectively, two signs: one reading, 
"This style $3.45," the other, "This style $4.25." 

"Well," said Mr. Beecher, as he and Doctor Tal- 
mage walked away laughing, "I was ticketed higher 
than you, Talmage, anyhow." 

"You're worth more," rejoined Doctor Talmage. 

On another occasion, as the two men met they be- 
gan to bandy each other. 

"Now, Talmage," said Mr. Beecher, his eyes twin- 
kling, "let's have it out. My people say that Plymouth 
holds more people than the Tabernacle, and your folks 



ASSOCIATION WITH HENRY WARD BEECHER 91 

stand up for the Tabernacle. Now which is it ? What 
is your estimate?" 

"Well, I should say that the Tabernacle holds about 
fifteen thousand people," said Doctor Talmage with a 
smile. 

"Good," said Mr. Beecher, at once catching the 
spirit. "And I say that Plymouth accommodates, 
comfortably, twenty thousand people. Now, let's tell 
our respective trustees that it's settled, once for all." 

Mr. Beecher could never be induced to take note of 
what others said of him. His friends, with more heart 
than head, often tried to persuade him to answer some 
attack, but he invariably waved them off. He always 
saw the ridiculous side of those attacks; never their 
serious import. 

At one time a fellow Brooklyn minister, a staunch 
Prohibitionist, publicly reproved Mr. Beecher for be- 
ing inconsistent in his temperance views, to the extent 
that he preached temperance but drank beer at his own 
dinner-table. This attack angered the friends of Mr. 
Beecher, who tried to persuade him to answer the 
charge. But the Plymouth pastor refused. "Friend 

is a good fellow," was the only comment they could 

elicit. 

"But he ought to be broadened," persisted the 
friends. 

"Well now," said Mr. Beecher, "that isn't always 
possible. For instance," he continued, as that inimita- 
ble merry twinkle came into his eyes, "sometime ago 

Friend criticised me for something I had said. 

I thought he ought not to have done so, and the next 



92 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

time we met I told him so. He persisted, and I felt 
the only way to treat him was as I would an unruly 
child. So I just took hold of him, laid him face down 
over my knee, and proceeded to impress him as our 
fathers used to do of old. And, do you know, I found 
that the Lord had not made a place on him for me to 
lay my hand upon." 

And in the laughter which met this sally Mr. Beecher 
ended with "You see, it isn't always possible to broaden 
a man." 

Mr. Beecher was rarely angry. Once, however, he 
came near it; yet he was more displeased than angry. 
Some of his family and Edward had gone to a notable 
public affair at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, where 
a box had been placed at Mr. Beecher's disposal. One 
member of the family was a very beautiful girl who had 
brought a girl-friend. Both were attired in full evening 
decollete costume. Mr. Beecher came in late from an- 
other engagement. A chair had been kept vacant for 
him in the immediate front of the box, since his presence 
had been widely advertised, and the audience was ex- 
pecting to see him. When he came in, he doffed his 
coat and was about to go to the chair reserved for him, 
when he stopped, stepped back, and sat down in a chah 
in the rear of the box. It was evident from his face that 
something had displeased him. Mrs. Beecher leaned 
over and asked him, but he offered no explanation. 
Nothing was said. 

Edward went back to the house with Mr. Beecher; 
after talking awhile in the study, the preacher, wishing 
to show him something, was going up-stairs with his 



ASSOCIATION WITH HENRY WARD BEECHER 93 

guest and had nearly reached the second landing when 
there was the sound of a rush, the gas was quickly 
turned low, and two white figures sped into one of the 
rooms. 

"My dears," called Mr. Beecher. 

"Yes, Mr. Beecher/' came a voice from behind the 
door of the room in question. 

"Come here one minute," said Mr. Beecher. 

"But we cannot," said the voice. "We are ready for 
bed. Wait until " 

"No; come as you are," returned Mr. Beecher. 

"Let me go down-stairs," Edward interrupted. 

"No; you stay right here," said Mr. Beecher. 

"Why, Mr. Beecher! How can we? Isn't Edward 
with you ? " 

"You are keeping me waiting for you," was the quiet 
and firm answer. 

There was a moment's hesitation. Then the door 
opened and the figures of the two girls appeared. 

"Now, turn up the gas, please, as it was," said Mr. 
Beecher. 

"But, Mr. Beecher " 

"You heard me?" 

Up went the light, and the two beautiful girls of the 
box stood in their night-dresses. 

"Now, why did you run away?" asked Mr. Beecher. 

"Why, Mr. Beecher ! How can you ask such a ques- 
tion?" pouted one of the girls, looking at her dress and 
then at Edward. 

"Exactly," said Mr. Beecher. "Your modesty leads 
you to run away from this young man because he might 



94 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

possibly see you under a single light in dresses that cover 
your entire bodies, while that same modesty did not 
prevent you all this evening from sitting beside him, 
under a myriad of lights, in dresses that exposed nearly 
half of your bodies. That's what I call a distinction 
with a difference — with the difference to the credit 
neither of your intelligence nor of your modesty. There 
is some modesty in the dresses you have on: there was 
precious little in what you girls wore this evening. 
Good night." 

"You do not believe, Mr. Beecher," Edward asked 
later, "in decollete dressing for girls?" 

"No, and even less for women. A girl has some ex- 
cuse of youth on her side; a woman none at all." 

A few moments later he added : 

"A proper dress for any girl or woman is one that 
reveals the lady, but not her person." 

Edward asked Mrs. Beecher one day whether Mr. 
Beecher had ever expressed an opinion of his sister's 
famous book, Uncle Toni's Cabin, and she told this in- 
teresting story of how the famous preacher read the 
story : 

"When the story was first published in The National 
Era, in chapters, all our family, excepting Mr. Beecher, 
looked impatiently for its appearance each week. But, 
try as we might, we could not persuade Mr. Beecher to 
read it, or let us tell him anything about it. 

"'It's folly for you to be kept in constant excitement 
week after week/ he would say. 'I shall wait till the 
work is completed, and take it all at one dose.' 

"After the serial ended, the book came to Mr. Beecher 



ASSOCIATION WITH HENRY WARD BEECHER 95 

on the morning of a day when he had a meeting on hand 
for the afternoon and a speech to make in the evening. 
The book was quietly laid one side, for he always scru- 
pulously avoided everything that could interfere with 
work he was expected to do. But the next day was a 
free day. Mr. Beecher rose even earlier than usual, and 
as soon as he was dressed he began to read Uncle Torrfs 
Cabin. When breakfast was ready he took his book 
with him to the table, where reading and eating went 
on together; but he spoke never a word. After morning 
prayers, he threw himself on the sofa, forgot everything 
but his book, and read uninterruptedly till dinner-time. 
Though evidently intensely interested, for a long time 
he controlled any marked indication of it. Before 
noon I knew the storm was gathering that would con- 
quer his self-control, as it had done with us all. He 
frequently 'gave way to his pocket-handkerchief/ to 
use one of his old humorous remarks, in a most vigorous 
manner. In return for his teasing me for reading the 
work weekly, I could not refrain from saying demurely, 
as I passed him once : ' You seem to have a severe cold, 
Henry. How could you have taken it?' But what did 
I gain? Not even a half-annoyed shake of the head, or 
the semblance of a smile. I might as well have spoken 
to the Sphinx. 

a When reminded that the dinner-bell had rung, he 
rose and went to the table, still with his book in his 
hand. He asked the blessing with a tremor in his voice 5 
which showed the intense excitement under which he 
was laboring. We were alone at the table, and there 
was nothing to distract his thoughts. He drank his 



96 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

coffee, ate but little, and returned to his reading, with 
no thought of indulging in his usual nap. His almost 
uncontrollable excitement revealed itself in frequent 
half-suppressed sobs. 

"Mr. Beecher was a very slow reader. I was getting 
uneasy over the marks of strong feeling and excitement, 
and longed to have him finish the book. I could see 
that he entered into the whole story, every scene, as if 
it were being acted right before him, and he himself 
were the sufferer. He had always been a pronounced 
Abolitionist, arid the story he was reading roused in- 
tensely all he had felt on that subject. 

"The night came on. It was growing late, and I felt 
impelled to urge him to retire. Without raising his eyes 
from the book, he replied: 

"'Soon; soon; you go; I'll come soon.' 
"Closing the house, I went to our room; but not to 
sleep. The clock struck twelve, one, two, three; and 
then, to my great relief, I heard Mr. Beecher coming 
up-stairs. As he entered, he threw Uncle Tout's Cabin 
on the table, exclaiming: 'There; I've done it! But if 
Hattie Stowe ever writes anything more like that I'll — 
well ! She has nearly killed me.' 
"And he never picked up the book from that day." 
Any one who knew Henry Ward Beecher at all knew 
of his love of books. He was, however, most prodigal 
in lending his books and he always forgot the borrowers. 
Then when he wanted a certain volume from his library 
he could not find it. He would, of course, have forgotten 
the borrower, but he had a unique method of tracing the 
book. 



ASSOCIATION WITH HENRY WARD BEECHER 97 

One evening the great preacher suddenly appeared 
at a friend's house and, quietly entering the drawing- 
room without removing his overcoat, he walked up to his 
friend and said: 

"Rossiter, why don't you bring back that Ruskin of 
mine that I lent you?" 

The man colored to the roots of his hair. "Why, 
Mr. Beecher," he said, "I'll go up-stairs and get it for 
you right away. I would not have kept it so long, only 
you told me I might." 

At this Beecher burst into a fit of merry laughter. 
"Found ! Found !" he shouted, as he took off his over- 
coat and threw himself into a chair. 

When he could stop laughing, he said: "You know, 
Rossiter, that I am always ready to lend my books to 
any one who will make good use of them and bring them 
back, but I always forget to whom I lend them. It 
happened, in this case, that I wanted that volume of 
Ruskin about a week ago; but when I went to the shelf 
for it, it was gone. I knew I must have lent it, but to 
whom I could not remember. During the past week, I 
began to demand the book of every friend I met to whom 
I might have lent it. Of course, every one of them pro- 
tested innocence; but at last I've struck the guilty 
man. I shall know, in future, how to find my missing 
books. The plan works beautifully." 

One evening, after supper, Mr. Beecher said to his wife: 
"Mother, what material have we among our papers 
about our early Indiana days?" 
Mr. Beecher had long been importuned to write his 



98 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

autobiography, and he had decided to do it after he had 
finished his Life of Christ. 

Mrs. Beecher had two boxes brought into the room. 

"Suppose you look into that box, if you will," said 
Mr. Beecher to Edward, "and I'll take this one, and 
we'll see what we can find about that time. Mother, 
you supervise and see how we look on the floor." 

And Mr. Beecher sat down on the floor in front of one 
box, shoemaker-fashion, while Edward, likewise on the 
floor, started on the other box. 

It was a dusty job, and the little room began to be 
filled with particles of dust which set Mrs. Beecher 
coughing. At last she said : " I'll leave you two to finish. 
I have some things to do up-stairs, and then I'll retire. 
Don't be too late, Henry," she said. 

It was one of those rare evenings for Mr. Beecher — 
absolutely free from interruption; and, with his memory 
constantly taken back to his early days, he continued 
in a reminiscent mood that was charmingly intimate 
to the boy. 

"Found something?" he asked at one intermission 
when quiet had reigned longer than usual, and he saw 
Edward studying a huge pile of papers. 

"No, sir," said the boy. "Only a lot of papers about 
a suit." 

"What suit?" asked Mr. Beecher mechanically, with 
his head buried in his box. 

"I don't know, sir," Edward replied naively, little 
knowing what he was reopening to the preacher. " ' Til- 
ton versus Beecher' they are marked." 

Mr. Beecher said nothing, and after the boy had 



ASSOCIATION WITH HENRY WARD BEECHER 99 

fingered the papers he chanced to look in the preacher's 
direction and found him watching him intently with a 
curiously serious look in his face. 

"Must have been a big suit/' commented the boy. 
" Here's another pile of papers about it." 

Edward could not make out Mr. Beecher's steady 
look at him as he sat there on the floor mechanically 
playing with a paper in his hand. 

" Yes," he finally said, "it was a big suit. What does 
it mean to you ? " he asked suddenly. 

"To me?" Edward asked. "Nothing, sir. Why?" 

Mr. Beecher said nothing for a few moments, and 
turned to his box to examine some more papers. 

Then the boy asked: "Was the Beecher in this suit 
you, Mr. Beecher?" 

Again was turned on him that serious, questioning 
look. 

"Yes," he said after a bit. Then he thought again 
for a few moments and said: "How old were you in 

1875?" 

"Twelve," the boy replied. 

"Twelve," he repeated. "Twelve." 

He turned again to his box and Edward to his. 

"There doesn't seem to be anything more in this 
box," the boy said, "but more papers in that suit," 
and he began to put the papers back. 

"What do you know about that 'suit, ' as you call it?" 
asked Mr. Beecher, stopping in his work. 

"Nothing," was the reply. "I never heard of it." 

"Never heard of it?" he repeated, and he fastened 
that curious look upon Edward again. It was so com- 



ioo THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

pelling that it held the boy. For several moments they 
looked at each other. Neither spoke. 

"That seems strange," he said, at last, as he renewed 
the search of his box. "Never heard of it," he repeated 
almost to himself. 

Then for fully five minutes not a word was spoken. 

"But you will some day," said Mr. Beecher sud- 
denly. 

"I will what, Mr. Beecher?" asked the boy. He 
had forgotten the previous remark. 

Mr. Beecher looked at Edward and sighed. "Hear 
about it," he said. 

"I don't think I understand you," was the reply. 

"No, I don't think you do," he said. "I mean, you 
will some day hear about that suit. And I don't know," 
then he hesitated, "but — but you might as well get it 
straight. You say you were twelve then," he mused. 
"What were you doing when you were twelve?" 

"Going to school," was the reply. 

"Yes, of course," said Mr. Beecher. "Well," he 
continued, turning on his haunches so that his back 
rested against the box, "I am going to tell you the story 
of that suit, and then you'll know it." 

Edward said nothing, and then began the recital of a 
story that he was destined to remember. It was inter- 
esting then, as Mr. Beecher progressed; but how thrice 
interesting that wonderful recital was to prove as the 
years rolled by and the boy realized the wonderful tell- 
ing of that of all stories by Mr. Beecher himself ! 

Slowly, and in that wonderfully low, mellow voice 
that so many knew and loved, step by step, came the 



ASSOCIATION WITH HENRY WARD BEECHER id 

unfolding of that remarkable story. Once or twice only 
did the voice halt, as when, after he had explained the 
basis of the famous suit, he said: 

"Those were the charges. That is what it was all 
about." 

Then he looked at Edward and asked: "Do you know 
just what such charges mean?" 

"I think I do," Edward replied, and the question 
was asked with such f eeling, and the answer was said so 
mechanically, that Mr. Beecher replied simply: "Per- 
haps." 

"Well," he continued, "the suit was sl 'long one/ 
as you said. For days and weeks, yes, for months, it 
went on, from January to July, and those were very 
full days: full of so many things that you would hardly 
understand." 

And then he told the boy as much of the days in court 
as he thought he would understand, and how the lawyers 
worked and worked, in court all day, and up half the 
night, preparing for the next day. "Mostly around that 
little table there," he said, pointing to a white, marble- 
topped table against which the boy was leaning, and 
which now stands in 'Edward Bok's study. 

"Finally the end came," he said, "after — well, months. 
To some it seemed years," said Mr. Beecher, and his 
eyes looked tired. 

"Well," he continued, "the case went to the jury: 
the men, you know, who had to decide. There were 
twelve of them." 

"Was it necessary that all twelve should think alike?" 
asked the boy. 



102 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

"That was what was hoped, my boy," said Mr. 
Beecher — "that was what was hoped," he repeated. 

"Well, they did, didn't they?" Edward asked, as 
Mr. Beecher stopped. 

"Nine did," he replied. "Yes; nine did. But three 
didn't. Three thought — " Mr. Beecher stopped and 
did not finish the sentence. ' ' But nine did," he repeated. 
"Nine to three it stood. That was the decision, and 
then the judge discharged the jury," he said. 

There was naturally one question in the boyish mind 
to ask the man before him — one question! Yet, in- 
stinctively, something within him made him hesitate to 
ask that question. But at last his curiosity got the 
better of the still, small voice of judgment. 

"And, Mr. Beecher — " the boy began. 

But Mr. Beecher knew! He knew what was at the 
end of the tongue, looked clear into the boy's mind; 
and Edward can still see him lift that fine head and 
look into his eyes, as he said, slowly and clearly: 

"And the decision of the nine was in exact accord 
with the facts." 

He had divined the question ! 

As the two rose from the floor that night Edward 
looked at the clock. It was past midnight; Mr. Beecher 
had talked for two hours; the boy had spoken hardly at 
all. 

As the boy was going out, he turned to Mr. Beecher 
sitting thoughtfully in his chair. 

"Good night, Mr. Beecher," he said. 

The Plymouth pastor pulled himself together, and 
with that wit that never forsook him he looked at the 



ASSOCIATION WITH HENRY WARD BEECHER 103 

clock, smiled, and answered: "Good morning, I should 
say. God bless you, my boy." Then rising, he put his 
arm around the boy's shoulders and walked with him to 
the door. 



CHAPTER X 

THE FIRST "WOMAN'S PAGE," "LITERARY LEAVES," 
AND ENTERING SCRIBNER'S 

Mr. Beecher's weekly newspaper " syndicate " letter 
was not only successful in itself, it made liberal money 
for the writer and for its two young publishers, but it 
served to introduce Edward Bok's proposed agency to 
the newspapers under the most favorable conditions. 
With one stroke, the attention of newspaper editors had 
been attracted, and Edward concluded to take quick 
advantage of it. He organized the Bok Syndicate Press, 
with offices in New York, and his brother, William J. 
Bok, as partner and active manager. Edward's days 
were occupied, of course, with his duties in the Holt 
publishing house, where he was acquiring a first-hand 
knowledge of the business. 

Edward's attention was now turned, for the first 
time, to women and their reading habits. He became 
interested in the fact that the American woman was not 
a newspaper reader. He tried to find out the psychology 
of this, and finally reached the conclusion, on looking 
over the newspapers, that the absence of any distinc- 
tive material for women was a factor. He talked the 
matter over with several prominent New York editors, 
vho frankly acknowledged that they would like noth- 
ing better than to interest women, and make them 

readers of their papers. But they were equally frank in 

104 



THE FIRST "WOMAN'S PAGE" 105 

confessing that they were ignorant both of what women 
wanted, and, even if they knew, of where such material 
was to be had. Edward at once saw that here was an 
open field. It was a productive field, since, as woman 
was the purchasing power, it would benefit the news- 
paper enormously in its advertising if it could offer a 
feminine clientele. 

There was a bright letter of New York gossip pub- 
lished in the New York Star, called "Bab's Babble." 
Edward had read it, and saw the possibility of syndicat- 
ing this item as a woman's letter from New York. He 
instinctively realized that women all over the country 
would read it. He sought out the author, made arrange- 
ments with her and with former Governor Dorscheimer, 
owner of the paper, and the letter was sent out to a 
group of papers. It was an instantaneous success, and 
a syndicate of ninety newspapers was quickly organized. 

Edward followed this up by engaging Ella Wheeler 
Wilcox, then at the height of her career, to write a 
weekly letter on women's topics. This he syndicated in 
conjunction with the other letter, and the editors in- 
variably grouped the two letters. This, in turn, nat- 
urally led to the idea of supplying an entire page of 
matter of interest to women. The plan was proposed 
to a number of editors, who at once saw the possibil- 
ities in it and promised support. The young syndicator 
now laid under contribution all the famous women 
writers of the day; he chose the best of the men writers 
to write on women's topics; and it was not long before 
the syndicate was supplying a page of women's material. 
The newspapers played up the innovation, and thus was 



106 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

introduced into the newspaper press of the United States 
the "Woman's Page." 

The material supplied by the Bok Syndicate Press 
was of the best; the standard was kept high; the 
writers were selected from among the most popular 
authors of the day; and readability was the cardinal 
note. The women bought the newspapers containing 
the new page, the advertiser began to feel the pres- 
ence of the new reader, and every newspaper that 
could not get the rights for the "Bok Page," as it 
came to be known, started a "Woman's Page" of its 
own. Naturally, the material so obtained was of an 
inferior character. No single newspaper could afford 
what the syndicate, with the expense divided among a 
hundred newspapers, could pay. Nor had the editors 
of these woman's pages either a standard or a policy. 
In desperation they engaged any person they could to 
"get a lot of woman's stuff." It was stuff, and of the 
trashiest kind. So that almost coincident with the 
birth of the idea began its abuse and disintegration; 
the result we see in the meaningless presentations which 
pass for "woman's pages" in the newspaper of to-day. 

This is true even of the woman's material in the lead- 
ing newspapers, and the reason is not difficult to find. 
The average editor has, as a rule, no time to study the 
changing conditions of women's interests; his time is 
and must be engrossed by the news and editorial pages. 
He usually delegates the Sunday "specials" to some 
editor who, again, has little time to study the ever- 
changing women's problems, particularly in these days, 
and he relies upon unintelligent advice, or he places his 



" LITERARY LEAVES" 107 

"woman's page" in the hands of some woman with the 
comfortable assurance that, being a woman, she ought 
to know what interests her sex. 

But having given the subject little thought, he attaches 
minor importance to the woman's "stuff," regarding it 
rather in the light of something that he "must carry to 
catch the women"; and forthwith he either forgets it 
or refuses to give the editor of his woman's page even a 
reasonable allowance to spend on her material. The re- 
sult is, of course, inevitable: pages of worthless material. 
There is, in fact, no part of the Sunday newspaper of 
to-day upon which so much good and now expensive 
white paper is wasted as upon the pages marked for the 
home, for women, and for children. 

Edward Bok now became convinced, from his book- 
publishing association, that if the American women were 
not reading the newspapers, the American public, as a 
whole, was not reading the number of books that it 
should, considering the intelligence and wealth of the 
people, and the cheap prices at which books were sold. 
He concluded to see whether he could not induce the 
newspapers to give larger and more prominent space to 
the news of the book world. 

Owing to his constant contact with authors, he was in 
a peculiarly fortunate position to know their plans in 
advance of execution, and he was beginning to learn the 
ins and outs of the book-publishing world. He can- 
vassed the newspapers subscribing to his syndicate 
features, but found a disinclination to give space to 
literary news. To the average editor, purely literary 
features held less of an appeal than did the features for 



108 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

women. Fewer persons were interested in books, they 
declared; besides, the publishing houses were not so 
liberal advertisers as the department stores. The whole 
question rested on a commercial basis. 

Edward believed he could convince editors of the 
public interest in a newsy, readable New York literary 
letter, and he prevailed upon the editor of the New 
York Star to allow him to supplement the book reviews 
of George Parsons Lathrop in that paper by a column 
of literary chat called " Literary Leaves." For a num- 
ber of weeks he continued to write this department, 
and confine it to the New York paper, feeling that he 
needed the experience for the acquirement of a readable 
style, and he wanted to be sure that he had opened a 
sufficient number of productive news channels to ensure 
a continuous flow of readable literary information. 

Occasionally he sent to an editor here and there what 
he thought was a particularly newsy letter just "for 
his information, not for sale." The editor of the Phila- 
delphia Times was the first to discover that his paper 
wanted the letter, and the Boston Journal followed suit. 
Then the editor of the Cincinnati Times-Star discovered 
the letter in the New York Star, and asked that it be 
supplied weekly with the letter. These newspapers 
renamed the letter "Bok's Literary Leaves," and the 
feature started on its successful career. 

Edward had been in the employ of Henry Holt and 
Company as clerk and stenographer for two years when 
Mr. Cary sent for him and told him that there was an 
opening in the publishing house of Charles Scribner's 
Sons, if he wanted to make a change. Edward saw at 



ENTERING SCRIBNER'S 109 

once the larger opportunities possible in a house of the 
importance of the Scribners, and he immediately placed 
himself in communication with Mr. Charles Scribner, 
with the result that in January, 1884, he entered the 
employ of these publishers as stenographer to the two 
members of the firm and to Mr. Edward L. Burlingame, 
literary adviser to the house. He was to receive a 
salary of eighteen dollars and thirty-three cents per 
week, which was then considered a fair wage for steno- 
graphic work. The typewriter had at that time not 
come into use, and all letters were written in long-hand. 
Once more his legible handwriting had secured for him a 
position. 

Edward Bok was now twenty-one years of age. He 
had already done a prodigious amount of work for a boy 
of his years. He was always busy. Every spare mo- 
ment of his evenings was devoted either to writing his 
literary letter, to the arrangement or editing of articles 
for his newspaper syndicate, to the steady acquirement 
of autograph letters in which he still persisted, or to 
helping Mr. Beecher in his literary work. The Plym- 
outh pastor was particularly pleased with Edward's 
successful exploitation of his pen work; and he after- 
ward wrote: "Bok is the only man who ever seemed to 
make my literary work go and get money out of it." 

Enterprise and energy the boy unquestionably pos- 
sessed, but one need only think back even thus far in 
his life to see the continuous good fortune which had 
followed him in the friendships he had made, and in 
the men with whom his life, at its most formative period, 
had come into close contact. If we are inclined to credit 



no THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

young Bok with an ever- willingness to work and a cer- 
tain quality of initiative, the influences which played 
upon him must also be taken into account. 

Take, for example, the peculiarly fortuitous circum- 
stances under which he entered the Scribner publishing 
house. As stenographer to the two members of the 
firm, Bok was immediately brought into touch with 
the leading authors of the day, their works as they were 
discussed in the correspondence dictated to him, and 
the authors' terms upon which books were published. 
In fact, he was given as close an insight as it was pos- 
sible for a young man to get into the inner workings of 
one of the large publishing houses in the United States, 
with a list peculiarly noted for the distinction of its 
authors and the broad scope of its books. 

The Scribners had the foremost theological list of all 
the publishing houses; its educational list was excep- 
tionally strong; its musical list excelled; its fiction rep- 
resented the leading writers of the day; its general list 
was particularly noteworthy; and its foreign department, 
importing the leading books brought out in Great 
Britain and Europe, was an outstanding feature of the 
business. The correspondence dictated to Bok cov- 
ered, naturally, all these fields, and a more remarkable 
opportunity for self-education was never offered a 
stenographer. 

Mr. Burlingame was known in the publishing world 
for his singularly keen literary appreciation, and was 
accepted as one of the best judges of good fiction. 
Bok entered the Scribner employ as Mr. Burlingame was 
selecting the best short stories published within a decade 



ENTERING SCRIBNER'S ill 

for a set of books to be called " Short Stories by Amer- 
ican Authors." The correspondence for this series was 
dictated to Bok, and he decided to read after Mr. 
Burlingame and thus get an idea of the best fiction of 
the day. So whenever his chief wrote to an author 
asking for permission to include his story in the pro- 
posed series, Bok immediately hunted up the story and 
read it. 

Later, when the house decided to start Scribner's 
Magazine, and Mr. Burlingame was selected to be its 
editor, all the preliminary correspondence was dictated 
to Bok through his employers, and he received a first- 
hand education in the setting up of the machinery 
necessary for the publication of a magazine. All this 
he eagerly absorbed. 

He was again fortunate in that his desk was placed in 
the advertising department of the house; and here he 
found, as manager, an old-time Brooklyn boy friend 
with whom he had gone to school: Frank N. Doubleday, 
to-day the senior partner of Doubleday, Page and Com- 
pany. Bok had been attracted to advertising through 
his theatre programme and Brooklyn Magazine experi- 
ence, and here was presented a chance to learn the art 
at first hand and according to the best traditions. So, 
whenever his stenographic work permitted, he assisted 
Mr. Doubleday in preparing and placing the advertise- 
ments of the books of the house. 

Mr. Doubleday was just reviving the publication of 
a house-organ called The Book Buyer, and, given 
a chance to help in this, Bok felt he was getting back 
into the periodical field, especially since, under Mr. 



112 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

Doubleday's guidance, the little monthly soon developed 
into a literary magazine of very respectable size and 
generally bookish contents. 

The house also issued another periodical, The Presby- 
terian Review, a quarterly under the editorship of a 
board of professors connected with the Princeton and 
Union Theological Seminaries. This ponderous-looking 
magazine was not composed of what one might call 
"light reading," and as the price of a single copy was 
eighty cents, and the advertisements it could reason- 
ably expect were necessarily limited in number, the 
periodical was rather difficult to move. Thus the whole 
situation at the Scribners* was adapted to give Edward 
an all-round training in the publishing business. It was 
an exceptional opportunity. 

He worked early and late. An increase in his salary 
soon told him that he was satisfying his employers, and 
then, when the new Scribner's Magazine appeared, and 
a little later Mr. Doubleday was delegated to take 
charge of the business end of it, Bok himself was placed 
in charge of the advertising department, with the pub- 
lishing details of the two periodicals on his hands. 

He suddenly found himself directing a stenographer 
instead of being a stenographer himself. Evidently his 
apprentice days were over. He had, in addition, the 
charge of sending all the editorial copies of the new books 
to the press for review, and of keeping a record of those 
reviews. This naturally brought to his desk the authors 
of the house who wished to see how the press received 
their works. 

The study of the writers who were interested in fol- 



ENTERING SCRIBNER'S 113 

lowing the press notices of their books, and those who 
were indifferent to them became a fascinating game to 
young Bok. He soon discovered that the greater the 
author the less he seemed to care about his books once 
they were published. Bok noticed this, particularly, in 
the case of Robert Louis Stevenson, whose work had 
attracted him, but, although he used the most subtle 
means to inveigle the author into the office to read 
the press notices, he never succeeded. Stevenson never 
seemed to have the slightest interest in what the press 
said of his books. 

One day Mr. Burlingame asked Bok to take some 
proofs to Stevenson at his home; thinking it might be a 
propitious moment to interest the author in the popular 
acclaim that followed the publication of Doctor Jekyll 
and Mr. Hyde, Bok put a bunch of press notices in his 
pocket. He found the author in bed, smoking his in- 
evitable cigarette. 

As the proofs were to be brought back, Bok waited, 
and thus had an opportunity for nearly two hours to 
see the author at work. No man ever went over his 
proofs more carefully than did Stevenson; his correc- 
tions were numerous; and sometimes for ten minutes at 
a time he would sit smoking and thinking over a single 
sentence, which, when he had satisfactorily shaped it in 
his mind, he would recast on the proof. 

Stevenson was not a prepossessing figure at these times. 
With his sallow skin and his black dishevelled hair, with 
finger-nails which had been allowed to grow very long, 
with fingers discolored by tobacco — in short, with a 
general untidiness that was all his own, Stevenson, so 



114 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

Bok felt, was an author whom it was better to read than 
to see. And yet his kindliness and gentleness more than 
offset the unattractiveness of his physical appearance. 

After one or two visits from Bok, having grown ac- 
customed to him, Stevenson would discuss some sentence 
in an article, or read some amended paragraph out loud 
and ask whether Bok thought it sounded better. To 
pass upon Stevenson as a stylist was, of course, hardly 
within Bok's mental reach, so he kept discreetly silent 
when Stevenson asked his opinion. 

In fact, Bok reasoned it out that the novelist did not 
really expect an answer or an opinion, but was at such 
times thinking aloud. The mental process, however, 
was immensely interesting, particularly when Stevenson 
would ask Bok to hand him a book on words lying on an 
adjacent table. "So hard to find just the right word," 
Stevenson would say, and Bok got his first realization of 
the truth of the maxim: "Easy writing, hard reading; 
hard writing, easy reading." 

On this particular occasion when Stevenson finished, 
Bok pulled out his clippings, told the author how his 
book was being received, and was selling, what the house 
was doing to advertise it, explained the forthcoming play 
by Richard Mansfield, and then offered the press 
notices. 

Stevenson took the bundle and held it in his hand. 

"That's very nice to tell me all you have," he said, 
"and I have been greatly interested. But you have 
really told me all about it, haven't you, so why should I 
read these notices ? Hadn't I better get busy on another 
paper for Mr. Burlingame for the next magazine, else 



ENTERING SCRIBNER'S 115 

he'll be after me ? You know how impatient these edi- 
tors are." And he handed back the notices. 

Bok saw it was of no use: Stevenson was interested in 
his work, but, beyond a certain point, not in the world's 
reception of it. Bok's estimate of the author rose im- 
measurably. His attitude was in such sharp contrast to 
that of others who came almost daily into the office to 
see what the papers said, often causing discomfiture to 
the young advertising director by insisting upon taking 
the notices with them. But Bok always countered this 
desire by reminding the author that, of course, in that 
case he could not quote from these desirable notices 
in his advertisements of the book. And, invariably, the 
notices were left behind ! 

It now fell to the lot of the young advertiser to arouse 
the interest of the public in what were to be some of the 
most widely read and best-known books of the day: 
Robert Louis Stevenson's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde; 
Frances Hodgson Burnett's Little Lord Fauntleroy; 
Andrew Carnegie's Triumphant Democracy; Frank R. 
Stockton's The Lady, or the Tiger? and his Rudder 
Grange, and a succession of other books. 

The advertising of these books keenly sharpened the 
publicity sense of the developing advertising director. 
One book could best be advertised by the conventional 
means of the display advertisement; another, like Trium- 
phant Democracy, was best served by sending out to the 
newspapers a "broadside" of pungent extracts; public 
curiosity in a novel like The Lady, or the Tiger ? was, of 
course, whetted by the publication of literary notes as 
to the real denouement the author had in mind in 



n6 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

writing the story. Whenever Mr. Stockton came into 
the office Bok pumped him dry as to his experiences 
with the story, such as when, at a dinner party, his 
hostess served an ice-cream lady and a tiger to the au- 
thor, and the whole company watched which he chose. 

"And which did you choose ?" asked the advertising 
director. 

"Et tu, Brute?" Stockton smilingly replied. "Well, 
I'll tell you. I asked the butler to bring me another 
spoon, and then, with a spoon in each hand, I attacked 
both the lady and the tiger at the same time. ,, 

Once, when Stockton was going to Boston by the 
night boat, every room was taken. The ticket agent 
recognized the author, and promised to get him a de- 
sirable room if the author would tell which he had had 
in mind, the lady or the tiger. 

"Produce the room," answered Stockton. 

The man did. Stockton paid for it, and then said: 
"To tell you the truth, my friend, I don't know." 

And that was the truth, as Mr. Stockton confessed to 
his friends. The idea of the story had fascinated him; 
when he began it he purposed to give it a definite 
ending. But when he reached the end he didn't know 
himself which to produce out of the open door, the lady 
or the tiger, "and so," he used to explain, "I made up 
my mind to leave it hanging in the air." 

To the present generation of readers, all this reference 
to Stockton's story may sound strange, but for months 
it was the most talked-of story of the time, and sold into 
large numbers. 

One day while Mr. Stockton was in Bok's office, A. 



ENTERING SCRIBNER'S 117 

B. Frost, the illustrator, came in. Frost had become a 
full-fledged farmer with one hundred and twenty acres 
of Jersey land, and Stockton had a large farm in the 
South which was a financial burden to him. 

"Well, Stockton," said Frost, "I have found a way 
at last to make a farm stop eating up money. Per- 
haps it will help you." 

Stockton was busy writing, but at this bit of hopeful 
news he looked up, his eyes kindled, he dropped his 
pen, and eagerly said: 

"Tell me." 

And looking behind him to see that the way was clear, 
Frost answered: 

"Pave it solid, old man." 

When the stories of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and 
Little Lord Fauntleroy were made into plays, Bok was 
given an opportunity for an entirely different kind of 
publicity. Both plays were highly successful; they ran 
for weeks in succession, and each evening Bok had cir- 
culars of the books in every seat of the theatre; he had a 
table filled with the books in the foyer of each theatre; 
and he bombarded the newspapers with stories of Mr. 
Mansfield's method of making the quick change from 
one character to the other in the dual role of the Ste- 
venson play, and with anecdotes about the boy Tommy 
Russell in Mrs. Burnett's play. The sale of the books 
went merrily on, and kept pace with the success of the 
plays. And it all sharpened the initiative of the young 
advertiser and developed his sense for publicity. 

One day while waiting in the anteroom of a publish- 
ing house to see a member of the firm, he picked up a 



n8 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

book and began to read it. Since he had to wait for 
nearly an hour, he had read a large part of the volume 
when he was at last admitted to the private office. 
When his business was finished, Bok asked the pub- 
lisher why this book was not selling. 

"I don't know," replied the publisher. "We had 
great hopes for it, but somehow or other the public has 
not responded to it." 

"Are you sure you are telling the public about it in 
the right way?" ventured Bok. 

The Scribner advertising had by this time attracted 
the attention of the publishing world, and this publisher 
was entirely ready to listen to a suggestion from his 
youthful caller. 

"I wish we published it," said Bok. "I think I could 
make it a go. It's all in the book." 

"How would you advertise it?" asked the publisher. 

Bok promised the publisher he would let him know. 
He carried with him a copy of the book, wrote some ad- 
vertisements for it, prepared an attractive "broadside" 
of extracts, to which the book easily lent itself, wrote 
some literary notes about it, and sent the whole collec- 
tion to the publisher. Every particle of "copy" which 
Bok had prepared was used, the book began to sell, and 
within three months it was the most discussed book of 
the day. 

The book was Edward Bellamy's Looking Backward, 



CHAPTER XI 
THE CHANCES FOR SUCCESS 

Edward Bok does not now remember whether the 
mental picture had been given him, or whether he had 
conjured it up for himself; but he certainly was pos- 
sessed of the idea, as are so many young men entering 
business, that the path which led to success was very 
difficult: that it was overfilled with a jostling, bustling, 
panting crowd, each eager to reach the goal; and all 
ready to dispute every step that a young man should 
take; and that favoritism only could bring one to the 
top. 

After Bok had been in the world of affairs, he wondered 
where were these choked avenues, these struggling 
masses, these competitors for every inch of vantage. 
Then he gradually discovered that they did not exist. 

In the first place, he found every avenue leading to 
success wide open and certainly not overpeopled. He 
was surprised how few there were who really stood in a 
young man's way. He found that favoritism was not 
the factor that he had been led to suppose. He realized 
it existed in a few isolated cases, but to these every one 
had pointed and about these every one had talked until, 
in the public mind, they had multiplied in number and 
assumed a proportion that the facts did not bear out. 

Here and there a relative "played a favorite," but 
even with the push and influence behind him "the lucky 

IIQ 



120 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

one," as he was termed, did not seem to make progress, 
unless he had merit. It was not long before Bok dis- 
covered that the possession of sheer merit was the only 
real factor that actually counted in any of the places 
where he had been employed or in others which he had 
watched; that business was so constructed and conducted 
that nothing else, in the face of competition, could act 
as current coin. And the amazing part of it all to Bok 
was how little merit there was. Nothing astonished 
him more than the low average ability of those with 
whom he worked or came into contact. 

He looked at the top, and instead of finding it over- 
crowded, he was surprised at the few who had reached 
there; the top fairly begged for more to climb its heights. 

For every young man, earnest, eager to serve, will- 
ing to do more than he was paid for, he found ten trying 
to solve the problem of how little they could actually 
do for the pay received. 

It interested Bok to listen to the talk of his fellow- 
workers during luncheon hours and at all other times out- 
side of office hours. When the talk did turn on the 
business with which they were concerned, it consisted 
almost entirely of wages, and he soon found that, with 
scarcely an exception, every young man was terribly 
underpaid, and that his employer absolutely failed to 
appreciate his work. It was interesting, later, when 
Bok happened to get the angle of the employer, to dis- 
cover that, invariably, these same lamenting young men 
were those who, from the employer's point of view, were 
either greatly overpaid or so entirely worthless as to be 
marked for early decapitation. 



THE CHANCES FOR SUCCESS 121 

Bok felt that this constant thought of the wages 
earned or deserved was putting the cart before the 
horse; he had schooled himself into the belief that if he 
did his work well, and accomplished more than was ex- 
pected of him, the question of wages would take care 
of itself. But, according to the talk on every side, it 
was he who had the cart before the horse. Bok had not 
only tried always to fill the particular job set for him, 
but had made it a rule at the same time to study the 
position just ahead, to see what it was like, what it 
demanded, and then, as the opportunity presented it- 
self, do a part of that job in addition to his own. As 
a stenographer, he tried always to clear off the day's 
work before he closed his desk. This was not always 
possible, but he kept it before him as a rule to be 
followed rather than violated. 

One morning Bok's employer happened to come to the 
office earlier than usual, to find the letters he had dic- 
tated late in the afternoon before lying on his desk 
ready to be signed. 

"These are the letters I gave you late yesterday after- 
noon, are they not?" asked the employer. 

"Yes, sir." 

"Must have started early this morning, didn't you?" 

"No, sir," answered Bok. "I wrote them out last 
evening before I left." 

"Like to get your notes written out before they get 
stale?" 

"Yes, sir." 

"Good idea," said the employer. 

"Yes, sir ? " answered Bok, "and I think it is even a 



122 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

better idea to get a day's work off before I take my apron 
off." 

"Well said," answered the employer, and the follow- 
ing payday Bok found an increase in his weekly en- 
velope. 

It is only fair, however, to add here, parenthetically, 
that it is neither just nor considerate to a conscientious 
stenographer for an employer to delay his dictation 
until the end of the day's work, when, merely by judi- 
cious management of his affairs and time, he can give his 
dictation directly after opening his morning mail. There 
are two sides to every question; but sometimes the side 
of the stenographer is not kept in mind by the em- 
ployer. 

Bok found it a uniform rule among his fellow- 
workers to do exactly the opposite to his own idea; there 
was an astonishing unanimity in working by the clock; 
where the hour of closing was five o'clock the prepara- 
tions began five minutes before, with the hat and over- 
coat over the back of the chair ready for the stroke of 
the hour. This concert of action was curiously uni- 
versal, no " overtime" was ever to be thought of, and, 
as occasionally happened when the work did go over 
the hour, it was not, to use the mildest term, done with 
care, neatness, or accuracy; it was, to use a current 
phrase, "slammed off." Every moment beyond five 
o'clock in which the worker was asked to do anything 
was by just so much an imposition on the part of the 
employer, and so far as it could be safely shown, this 
impression was gotten over to him. 

There was an entire unwillingness to let business 



THE CHANCES FOR SUCCESS 123 

interfere with any anticipated pleasure or personal en- 
gagement. The office was all right between nine and 
five; one had to be there to earn a living; but after 
five, it was not to be thought of for one moment. The 
elevators which ran on the stroke of five were never 
large enough to hold the throng which besieged them. 

The talk during lunch hour rarely, if ever, turned 
toward business, except as said before, when it dealt 
with underpaid services. In the spring and summer it 
was invariably of baseball, and scores of young men 
knew the batting averages of the different players and 
the standing of the clubs with far greater accuracy than 
they knew the standing or the discounts of the customers 
of their employers. In the winter the talk was all of 
dancing, boxing, or plays. 

It soon became evident to Bok why scarcely five out 
of every hundred of the young men whom he knew made 
any business progress. They were not interested; it 
was a case of a day's work and a day's pay; it was not 
a question of how much one could do but how little one 
could get away with. The thought of how well one might 
do a given thing never seemed to occur to the average 
mind. 

"Oh, what do you care?" was the favorite expres- 
sion, "The boss won't notice it if you break your back 
over his work; you won't get any more pay." 

And there the subject was dismissed, and thoroughly 
dismissed, too. 

Eventually, then, Bok learned that the path that led 
to success was wide open: the competition was negligi- 
ble. There was no jostling. In fact, travel on it was 



£24 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

just a trifle lonely. One's fellow-travellers were excel- 
lent company, but they were few! It was one of 
Edward Bok's greatest surprises, but it was also one of 
his greatest stimulants. To go where others could not 
go, or were loath to go, where at least they were not, 
had a tang that savored of the freshest kind of adven- 
ture. And the way was so simple, so much simpler, in 
fact, than its avoidance, which called for so much argu- 
ment, explanation, and discussion. One had merely 
to do all that one could do, a little more than one was 
asked or expected to do, and immediately one's head 
rose above the crowd and one was in an employer's 
eye — where it is always so satisfying for an employee 
to be ! And as so few heads lifted themselves above the 
many, there was never any danger that they would 
not be seen. 

Of course, Edward Bok had to prove to himself that 
his conception of conditions was right. He felt in- 
stinctively that it was, however, and with this stimulus 
he bucked the line hard. When others played, he 
worked, fully convinced that his play-time would come 
later. Where others shirked, he assumed. Where 
others lagged, he accelerated his pace. Where others 
were indifferent to things around them, he observed and 
put away the results for possible use later. He did not 
make of himself a pack-horse; what he undertook he 
did from interest in it, and that made it a pleasure to 
him when to others it was a burden. He instinctively 
reasoned it out that an unpleasant task is never accom- 
plished by stepping aside from it, but that, unerringly, 
it will return later to be met and done. 



THE CHANCES FOR SUCCESS 125 

Obstacles, to Edward Bok, soon became merely diffi- 
culties to be overcome, and he trusted to his instinct 
to show him the best way to overcome them. He soon 
learned that the hardest kind of work was back of every 
success; that nothing in the world of business just hap- 
pened, but that everything was brought about, and only 
in one way — by a willingness of spirit and a determina- 
tion to carry through. He soon exploded for himself 
the misleading and comfortable theory of luck : the only 
lucky people, he found, were those who worked hard. 
To them, luck came in the shape of what they had earned. 
There were exceptions here and there, as there are to 
every rule; but the majority of these, he soon found, 
were more in the seeming than in the reality. Gener- 
ally speaking — and of course to this rule there are like- 
wise exceptions, or as the Frenchman said, "All gen- 
eralizations are false, including this one" — a man got 
in this world about what he worked for. 

And that became, for himself, the rule of Edward 
Bok's life. 



CHAPTER XII 
BAPTISM UNDER FIRE 

The personnel of the Scribner house was very youth- 
ful from the members of the firm clear down the line. 
It was veritably a house of young men. 

The story is told of a Boston publisher, sedate and 
fairly elderly, who came to the Scribner house to trans- 
act business with several of its departments. One of 
his errands concerning itself with advertising, he was 
introduced to Bok, who was then twenty-four. Look- 
ing the youth over, he transacted his business as well 
as he felt it could be transacted with a manager of such 
tender years, and then sought the head of the educational 
department: this brought him to another young man 
of twenty-four. 

With his yearnings for some one more advanced in 
years full upon him, the visitor now inquired for the 
business manager of the new magazine, only to find a 
man of twenty-six. His next introduction was to the 
head of the out-of-town business department, who was 
twenty-seven. 

At this point the Boston man asked to see Mr. Scrib- 
ner. This disclosed to him Mr. Arthur H. Scribner, 
the junior partner, who owned to twenty-eight summers. 
Mustering courage to ask faintly for Mr. Charles Scrib- 
ner himself, he finally brought up in that gentleman's 

office only to meet a man just turning thirty-three ! 

126 



BAPTISM UNDER FIRE 127 

"This is a young-looking crowd," said Mr. Scribner 
one day, looking over his young men. And his eye 
rested on Bok. "Particularly you, Bok. Doubleday 
looks his years better than you do, for at least he has a 
moustache. " Then, contemplatively: "You raise a 
moustache, Bok, and I'll raise your salary." 

This appealed to Bok very strongly, and within a 
month he pointed out the result to his employer. 
"Stand in the light here," said Mr. Scribner. "Well, 
yes," he concluded dubiously, "it's there — something at 
least. All right; I'll keep my part of the bargain." 

He did. But the next day he was nonplussed to see 
that the moustache had disappeared from the lip of his 
youthful advertising manager. "Couldn't quite stand 
it, Mr. Scribner," was the explanation. "Besides, you 
didn't say I should keep it: you merely said to raise it." 

But the increase did not follow the moustache. To 
Bok's great relief, it stuck ! 

This youthful personnel, while it made for esprit de 
corps, had also its disadvantages. One day as Bok 
was going out to lunch, he found a small-statured man, 
rather plainly dressed, wandering around the retail 
department, hoping for a salesman to wait on him. The 
young salesman on duty, full of inexperience, had a 
ready smile and quick service ever ready for "carriage 
trade," as he called it; but this particular customer had 
come afoot, and this, together with his plainness of 
dress, did not impress the young salesman. His atten- 
tion was called to the wandering customer, and it was 
suggested that he find out what was wanted. When 
Bok returned from lunch, the young salesman, who, 



128 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

with a beaming smile, had just most ceremoniously 
bowed the plainly dressed little customer out of the 
street-door, said: "You certainly struck it rich that 
time when you suggested my waiting on that little man ! 
Such an order ! Been here ever since. Did you know 
who it was?" 

"No," returned Bok. "Who was it?" 

"Andrew Carnegie," beamed the salesman. 

Another youthful clerk in the Scribner retail book- 
store, unconscious of the customer's identity, waited one 
day on the wife of Mark Twain. 

Mrs. Clemens asked the young salesman for a copy of 
Taine's Ancient Regime. 

"Beg pardon," said the clerk, "what book did you 
say?" 

Mrs. Clemens repeated the author and title of the 
book. 

Going to the rear of the store, the clerk soon returned, 
only to inquire: "May I ask you to repeat the name of 
the author?" 

"Taine, T-a-i-n-e," replied Mrs. Clemens. 

Then did the youthfulness of the salesman assert 
itself. Assuming an air of superior knowledge, and look- 
ing at the customer with an air of sympathy, he cor- 
rected Mrs. Clemens: 

"Pardon me, madam, but you have the name a trifle 
wrong. You mean Twain — not Taine." 

With so many young men of the same age, there was 
a natural sense of team-work and a spirit of comrade- 
ship that made for successful co-operation. This spirit 
extended outside of business hours. At luncheon there 



BAPTISM UNDER FIRE 129 

was a Scribner table in a neighboring restaurant, and 
evenings saw the Scribner department heads mingling 
as friends. It was a group of young men who under- 
stood and liked each other, with the natural result that 
business went easier and better because of it. 

But Bok did not have much time for evening enjoy- 
ment, since his outside interests had grown and pros- 
pered and they kept him busy. His syndicate was reg- 
ularly supplying over a hundred newspapers: his liter- 
ary letter had become an established feature in thirty 
different newspapers. 

Of course, his opportunities for making this letter 
interesting were unusual. Owing to his Scribner con- 
nection, however, he had taken his name from the letter 
and signed that of his brother. He had, also, constantly 
to discriminate between the information that he could 
publish without violation of confidence and that which 
he felt he was not at liberty to print. This gave him 
excellent experience; for the most vital of all essentials 
in the journalist is the ability unerringly to decide what 
to print and what to regard as confidential. 

Of course, the best things that came to him he could 
not print. Whenever there was a question, he gave the 
benefit of the doubt to the confidential relation in which 
his position placed him with authors; and his Dutch 
caution, although it deprived him of many a toothsome 
morsel for his letter, soon became known to his confreres, 
and was a large asset when, as an editor, he had to fol- 
low the golden rule of editorship that teaches one to 
keep the ears open but the mouth shut. 

This Alpha and Omega of all the commandments in 



130 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

the editorial creed some editors learn by sorrowful ex- 
perience. Bok was, again, fortunate in learning it under 
the most friendly auspices. He continued to work 
without sparing himself, but his star remained in the 
ascendency. Just how far a man's own efforts and 
standards keep a friendly star centred over his head is 
a question. But Edward Bok has always felt that he 
was materially helped by fortuitous conditions not of 
his own creation or choice. 

He was now to receive his first public baptism of fire. 
He had published a symposium, through his newspaper 
syndicate, discussing the question, "Should Clergymen 
Smoke ?" He had induced all the prominent clergy- 
men in the country to contribute their views, and so dis- 
tinguished was the list that the article created wide- 
spread attention. 

One of the contributors was the Reverend Richard S. 
Storrs, D.D., one of the most distinguished of Brook- 
lyn's coterie of clergy of that day. A few days after 
the publication of the article, Bok was astounded to 
read in the Brooklyn Eagle a sensational article, with 
large headlines, in which Doctor Storrs repudiated his 
contribution to the symposium, declared that he had 
never written or signed such a statement, and accused 
Edward Bok of forgery. 

Coming from a man of Doctor Storrs's prominence, 
the accusation was, of course, a serious one. Bok 
realized this at once. He foresaw the damage it might 
work to the reputation of a young man trying to climb 
the ladder of success, and wondered why Doctor Storrs 
had seen fit to accuse him in this public manner instead 



BAPTISM UNDER FIRE 131 

of calling upon him for a personal explanation. He 
thought perhaps he might find such a letter from Doctor 
Storrs when he reached home, but instead he met a 
small corps of reporters from the Brooklyn and New 
York newspapers. He told them frankly that no one 
was more surprised at the accusation than he, but that 
the original contributions were in the New York office 
of the syndicate, and he could not corroborate his word 
until he had looked into the papers and found Doctor 
Storrs's contribution. 

That evening Bok got at the papers in the case, 
and found out that, technicaUy, Doctor Storrs was 
right: he had not written or signed such a statement. 
The compiler of the symposium, the editor of one of 
New York's leading evening papers whom Bok had em- 
ployed, had found Doctor Storrs's declaration in favor 
of a clergyman's use of tobacco in an address made some 
time before, had extracted it and incorporated it into 
the symposium. It was, therefore, Doctor Storrs's 
opinion on the subject, but not written for the occasion 
for which it was used. Bok felt that his editor had led 
him into an indiscretion. Yet the sentiments were 
those of the writer whose name was attached to them, 
so that the act was not one of forgery. The editor ex- 
plained that he had sent the extract to Doctor Storrs, 
who had not returned it, and he had taken silence to 
mean consent to the use of the material. 

Bok decided to say nothing until he heard from Doc- 
tor Storrs personally, and so told the newspapers. But 
the clergyman did not stop his attack. Of course, the 
newspapers egged him on and extracted from him the 



132 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

further accusation that Bok's silence proved his guilt. 
Bok now took the case to Mr. Beecher, and asked his 
advice. 

"Well, Edward, you are right and you are wrong," 
said Mr. Beecher. "And so is Storrs, of course. It is 
beneath him to do what he has done. Storrs and I are 
not good friends, as you know, and so I cannot go to 
him and ask him the reason of his disclaimer. Other- 
wise I would. Of course, he may have forgotten his 
remarks: that is always possible in a busy man's life. 
He may not have received the letter enclosing them. 
That is likewise possible. But I have a feeling that 
Storrs has some reason for wishing to repudiate his views 
on this subject just at this time. What it is I do not, 
of course, know, but his vehemence makes me think 
so. I think I should let him have his rein. Keep you 
quiet. It may damage you a little here and there, but 
in the end it won't harm you. In the main point, you 
are right. You are not a forger. The sentiments are 
his and he uttered them, and he should stand by them. 
He threatens to bring you into court, I see from to-day's 
paper. Wait until he does so." 

Bok, chancing to meet Doctor Talmage, told him Mr. 
Beecher's advice, and he endorsed it. "Remember, 
boy," said Doctor Talmage, "silence is never so golden 
as when you are under fire. I know, for I have been 
there, as you know, more than once. Keep quiet; and 
always believe this: that there is a great deal of common 
sense abroad in the world, and a man is always safe in 
trusting it to do him justice." 

They were not pleasant and easy days for Bok, for 



BAPTISM UNDER FIRE 133 

Doctor Storrs kept up the din for several days. Bok 
waited for the word to appear in court. But this 
never came, and the matter soon died down and out. 
And, although Bok met the clergyman several times 
afterward in the years that followed, no reference was 
ever made by him to the incident. 

But Edward Bok had learned a valuable lesson of 
silence under fire — an experience that was to stand him 
in good stead when he was again publicly attacked not 
long afterward. 

This occurred in connection with a notable anniversary 
celebration in honor of Henry Ward Beecher, in which 
the entire city of Brooklyn was to participate. It was to 
mark a mile-stone in Mr. Beecher' s ministry and in his 
pastorate of Plymouth Church. Bok planned a world- 
wide tribute to the famed clergyman: he would get the 
most distinguished men and women of this and other 
countries to express their esteem for the Plymouth pas- 
tor in written congratulations, and he would bind these 
into a volume for presentation to Mr. Beecher on the 
occasion. He consulted members of the Beecher family, 
and, with their acquiescence, began to assemble the 
material. He was in the midst of the work when 
Henry Ward Beecher passed away. Bok felt that the 
tributes already received were too wonderful to be lost 
to the world, and, after again consulting Mrs. Beecher 
and her children, he determined to finish the collection 
and publish it as a memorial for private distribution. 
After a prodigious correspondence, the work was at 
last completed; and in June, 1887, the volume was 
published, in a limited edition of five hundred copies. 



134 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

Bok distributed copies of the volume to the members 
of Mr. Beecher's family, he had orders from Mr. Beech- 
er's friends, one hundred copies were offered to the 
American public and one hundred copies were issued in 
an English edition. 

With such a figure to whom to do honor, the con- 
tributors, of course, included the foremost men and 
women of the time. Grover Cleveland was then Presi- 
dent of the United States, and his tribute was a notable 
one. Mr. Gladstone, the Duke of Argyll, Pasteur, 
Canon Farrar, Bartholdi, Salvini, and a score of others 
represented English and European opinion. Oliver 
Wendell Holmes, John Greenleaf Whittier, T. De Witt 
Talmage, Robert G. Ingersoll, Charles Dudley Warner, 
General Sherman, Julia Ward Howe, Andrew Carnegie, 
Edwin Booth, Rutherford B. Hayes — there was scarcely 
a leader of thought and of action of that day unrepre- 
sented. The edition was, of course, quickly exhausted; 
and when to-day a copy occasionally appears at an auc- 
tion sale, it is sold at a high price. 

The newspapers gave very large space to the dis- 
tinguished memorial, and this fact angered a journalist, 
Joseph Howard, Junior, a man at one time close to Mr. 
Beecher, who had befriended him. Howard had planned 
to be the first in the field with a hastily prepared bi- 
ography of the great preacher, and he felt that Bok had 
forestalled him. Forthwith, he launched a vicious 
attack on the compiler of the memorial, accusing him 
of " making money out of Henry Ward Beecher's dead 
body" and of " seriously offending the family of Mr. 
Beecher, who had had no say in the memorial, which 



BAPTISM UNDER FIRE 135 

was therefore without authority, and hence extremely 
distasteful to all." 

Howard had convinced a number of editors of the jus- 
tice of his position, and so he secured a wide publication 
for his attack. For the second time, Edward Bok was 
under fire, and remembering his action on the previous 
occasion, he again remained silent, and again the argu- 
ment was put forth that his silence implied guilt. But 
Mrs. Beecher and members of the Beecher family did not 
observe silence, and quickly proved that not only had Bok 
compiled the memorial as a labor of love and had lost 
money on it, but that he had the full consent of the 
family in its preparation. 

When, shortly afterward, Howard's hastily compiled 
"biography" of Mr. Beecher appeared, a reporter asked 
Mrs. Beecher whether she and her family had found 
it accurate. 

"Accurate, my child," said Mrs. Beecher. "Why, 
it is so accurate in its absolute falsity that neither 
I nor the boys can find one fact or date given correctly, 
although we have studied it for two days. Even the 
year of Mr. Beecher's birth is wrong, and that is the 
smallest error ! " 

Edward Bok little dreamed that these two experiences 
with public criticism were to serve him as a foretaste of 
future attacks when he would get the benefit of hundreds 
of pencils especially sharpened for him. 



CHAPTER XIII 
PUBLISHING INCIDENTS AND ANECDOTES 

One evening some literary men were dining together 
previous to going to a private house where a number of 
authors were to give readings from their books. At the 
table the talk turned on the carelessness with which the 
public reads books. Richard Harding Davis, one of 
the party, contended that the public read more carefully 
than the others believed. It was just at the time when 
Du Maurier's Trilby was in every one's hands. 

"Don't you believe it," said one of the diners. "FU 
warrant you could take a portion of some well-known 
story to-night and palm it off on most of your listeners 
as new stuff." 

"Done," said Davis. "Come along, and I'll prove 
you wrong." 

The reading was to be at the house of John Kendrick 
Bangs at Yonkers. When Davis's "turn" in the pro- 
gramme came, he announced that he would read a por- 
tion from an unpublished story written by himself. 
Immediately there was a flutter in the audience, par- 
ticularly among the younger element. 

Pulling a roll of manuscript out of his pocket, Davis 
began : 

"It was a fine, sunny, showery day in April. The 

big studio window " 

136 



PUBLISHING INCIDENTS AND ANECDOTES 137 

He got no farther. Almost the entire audience broke 
into a shout of laughter and applause. Davis had read 
thirteen of the opening words of Trilby. 

All publishing houses employ "readers" outside of 
those in their own offices for the reading of manuscripts 
on special subjects. One of these "outside readers" was 
given a manuscript for criticism. He took it home and 
began its reading. He had finished only a hundred 
pages or so when, by a curious coincidence, the card of 
the author of the manuscript was brought to the 
"reader." The men were close friends. 

Hastily gathering up the manuscript, the critic shoved 
the work into a drawer of his desk, and asked that his 
friend be shown in. 

The evening was passed in conversation; as the 
visitor rose to leave, his host, rising also and seating 
himself on his desk, asked : 

"What have you been doing lately? Haven't seen 
much of you." 

"No," said the friend. "It may interest you to know 
that I have been turning to literary work, and have 
just completed what I consider to be an important book." 

"Really?" commented the "reader." 

"Yes," went on his friend. "I submitted it a few days 
ago to one of the big publishing houses. But, great 
Scott, you can never tell what these publishers will do 
with a thing of that sort. They give their manuscripts 
to all kinds of fools to read. I suppose, by this time, 
some idiot, who doesn't know a thing of the subject 
about which I have written, is sitting on my manu- 
script" 



138 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

Mechanically, the "reader" looked at the desk upon 
which he was sitting, thought of the manuscript lying 
in the drawer directly under him, and said : 

"Yes, that may be. Quite likely, in fact." 

Of no novel was the secret of the authorship ever so 
well kept as was that of The Breadwinners, which, 
published anonymously in 1883, was the talk of literary 
circles for a long time, and speculation as to its author- 
ship was renewed in the newspapers for years after- 
ward. Bok wanted very much to find out the author's 
name so that he could announce it in his literary letter. 
He had his suspicions, but they were not well founded 
until an amusing little incident occurred which curiously 
revealed the secret to him. 

Bok was waiting to see one of the members of a pub- 
lishing firm when a well-known English publisher, 
visiting in America, was being escorted out of the office, 
the conversation continuing as the two gentlemen walked 
through the outer rooms. "My chief reason," said the 
English publisher, as he stopped at the end of the 
outer office where Bok was sitting, "for hesitating at all 
about taking an English set of plates of the novel you 
speak of is because it is of anonymous authorship, a 
custom of writing which has grown out of all decent pro- 
portions in your country since the issue of that stupid 
book, The Breadwinners" 

As these last words were spoken, a man seated at a 
desk directly behind the speaker looked up, smiled, and 
resumed reading a document which he had dropped in 
to sign. A smile also spread over the countenance of 
the American publisher as he furtively glanced over the 



PUBLISHING INCIDENTS AND ANECDOTES 139 

shoulder of the English visitor and caught the eye of 
the smiling man at the desk. 

Bok saw the little comedy, realized at once that he 
had discovered the author of The Breadwinners , and 
stated to the publisher that he intended to use the 
incident in his literary letter. But it proved to be one 
of those heart-rending instances of a delicious morsel 
of news that must be withheld from the journalist's 
use. The publisher acknowledged that Bok had hap- 
pened upon the true authorship, but placed him upon his 
honor to make no use of the incident. And Bok learned 
again the vital journalistic lesson that there are a great 
many things in the world that the journalist knows and 
yet cannot write about. He would have been years in 
advance of the announcement finally made that John 
Hay wrote the novel. 

At another time, while waiting, Bok had an experience 
which, while interesting, was saddening instead of amus- 
ing. He was sitting in Mark Twain's sitting-room in 
his home in Hartford waiting for the humorist to re- 
turn from a walk. Suddenly sounds of devotional sing- 
ing came in through the open window from the direc- 
tion of the outer conservatory. The singing was low, 
yet the sad tremor in the voice seemed to give it special 
carrying power. 

"You have quite a devotional servant," Bok said to 
a maid who was dusting the room. 

"Oh, that is not a servant who is singing, sir," was the 
answer. "You can step to this window and see for 
yourself." 

Bok did so, and there, sitting alone on one of the 



140 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

rustic benches in the flower-house, was a small, elderly 
woman. Keeping time with the first ringer of her right 
hand, as if with a baton, she was slightly swaying her 
frail body as she sang, softly yet sweetly, Charles Wes- 
ley's hymn, "Jesus, Lover of My Soul," and Sarah 
Flower Adams's "Nearer, My God, to Thee." 

But the singer was not a servant. It was Harriet 
Beecher Stowe ! 

On another visit to Hartford, shortly afterward, 
Bok was just turning into Forrest Street when a little 
old woman came shambling along toward him, uncon- 
scious, apparently, of people or surroundings. In her 
hand she carried a small tree-switch. Bok did not 
notice her until just as he had passed her he heard 
her calling to him: "Young man, young man." Bok 
retraced his steps, and then the old lady said: "Young 
man, you have been leaning against something white," 
and taking her tree-switch she whipped some wall dust 
from the sleeve of Bok's coat. It was not until that 
moment that Bok recognized in his self-appointed 
"brush" no less a personage than Harriet Beecher Stowe. 

"This is Mrs. Stowe, is it not ? " he asked, after tender- 
ing his thanks to her. 

Those blue eyes looked strangely into his as she an- 
swered : 

"That is my name, young man. I live on this street. 
Are you going to have me arrested for stopping you?" 
with which she gathered up her skirts and quickly ran 
away, looking furtively over her shoulder at the amazed 
young man, sorrowfully watching the running figure ! 

Speaking of Mrs. Stowe brings to mind an unscrupu- 



PUBLISHING INCIDENTS AND ANECDOTES 141 

lous and yet ingenious trick just about this time played 
by a young man attached to one of the New York pub- 
lishing houses. One evening at dinner this chap hap- 
pened to be in a bookish company when the talk turned 
to the enthusiasm of the Southern negro for an illus- 
trated Bible. The young publishing clerk listened in- 
tently, and next day he went to a Bible publishing house 
in New York which issued a Bible gorgeous with pic- 
tures and entered into an arrangement with the pro- 
prietors whereby he should have the Southern territory. 
He resigned his position, and within a week he was in 
the South. He made arrangements with an artist 
friend to make a change in each copy of the Bible which 
he contracted for. The angels pictured therein were 
white in color. He had these made black, so he could 
show that there were black angels as well as white ones. 
The Bibles cost him just eighty cents apiece. He went 
about the South and offered the Bibles to the astonished 
and open-mouthed negroes for eight dollars each, two 
dollars and a half down and the rest in monthly pay- 
ments. His sales were enormous. Then he went his 
rounds all over again and offered to close out the re- 
maining five dollars and a half due him by a final pay- 
ment of two dollars and a half each. In nearly every 
case the bait was swallowed, and on each Bible he thus 
cleared four dollars and twenty cents net ! 

Running the elevator in the building where a promi- 
nent publishing firm had its office was a negro of more 
than ordinary intelligence. The firm had just published 
a subscription book on mechanical engineering, a chap- 
ter of which was devoted to the construction and opera- 






142 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

tion of passenger elevators. One of the agents selling 
the book thought he might find a customer in Wash- 
ington. 

"Wash," said the book-agent, "you ought to buy a 
copy of this book, do you know it?" 

"No, boss, don't want no books. Don't git no time 
fo' readin' books," drawled Wash. "It teks all mah 
time to run dis elevator." 

"But this book will help you to run your elevator. 
See here: there's a whole chapter here on elevators," 
persisted the canvasser. 

"Don't want no help to run dis elevator," said the 
darky. "Dis elevator runs all right now." 

"But," said the canvasser, "this will help you to run 
it better. You will know twice as much when you get 
through." 

"No, boss, no, dat's just it," returned Wash. "Don't 
want to learn nothing, boss," he said. "Why, boss, I 
know more now than I git paid for." 

There was one New York newspaper that prided it- 
self on its huge circulation, and its advertising canvassers 
were particularly insistent in securing the advertisements 
of publishers. Of course, the real purpose of the paper 
was to secure a certain standing for itself, which it lacked, 
rather than to be of any service to the publishers. 

By dint of perseverance, its agents finally secured from 
one of the ten-cent magazines, then so numerous, a 
large advertisement of a special number, and in order 
to test the drawing power of the newspaper as a medium, 
there was inserted a line in large black type : 

"SEND TEN CENTS FOR A NUMBER." 



PUBLISHING INCIDENTS AND ANECDOTES 143 

But the compositor felt that magazine literature 
should be even cheaper than it was, and to that thought 
in his mind his fingers responded, so that when the ad- 
vertisement appeared, this particular bold-type line 
read: 

"SEND TEN CENTS FOR A YEAR." 

This wonderful offer appealed with singular force to 
the class of readers of this particular paper, and they 
decided to take advantage of it. The advertisement 
appeared on Sunday, and Monday's first mail brought 
the magazine over eight hundred letters with ten cents 
enclosed "for a year's subscription as per your adver- 
tisement in yesterday's ." The magazine man- 
agement consulted its lawyer, who advised the publisher 
to make the newspaper pay the extra ninety cents on 
each subscription, and, although this demand was at 
first refused, the proprietors of the daily finally yielded. 
At the end of the first week eight thousand and fifty- 
five letters with ten cents enclosed had reached the mag- 
azine, and finally the total was a few over twelve 
thousand ! 



CHAPTER XIV 
LAST YEARS IN NEW YORK 

Edward Bok's lines were now to follow those of ad- 
vertising for several years. He was responsible for se- 
curing the advertisements for The Book Buyer and The 
Presbyterian Review. While the former was, frankly, 
a house-organ, its editorial contents had so broadened 
as to make the periodical of general interest to book- 
lovers, and with the subscribers constituting the valuable 
list of Scribner book-buyers, other publishers were eager 
to fish in the Scribner pond. 

With The Presbyterian Review, the condition was dif- 
ferent. A magazine issued quarterly naturally lacks 
the continuity desired by the advertiser; the scope of 
the magazine was limited, and so was the circulation. 
It was a difficult magazine to "sell" to the advertiser, 
and Bok's salesmanship was taxed to the utmost. Al- 
though all that the publishers asked was that the ex- 
pense of getting out the periodical be met, with its two 
hundred and odd pages even this was difficult. It was 
not an attractive proposition. 

The most interesting feature of the magazine to Bok 
appeared to be the method of editing. It was ostensibly 
edited by a board, but, practically, by Professor Francis 
L. Patton, D.D., of Princeton Theological Seminary 
(afterward president of Princeton University), and 

Doctor Charles A. Briggs, of Union Theological Semi- 

144 



LAST YEARS IN NEW YORK 145 

nary. The views of these two theologians differed 
rather widely, and when, upon several occasions, they 
met in Bok's office, on bringing in their different articles 
to go into the magazine, livery discussions ensued. Bok 
did not often get the drift of these discussions, but he 
was intensely interested in listening to the diverse views 
of the two theologians. 

One day the question of heresy came up between the 
two men, and during a pause in the discussion, Bok, 
looking for light, turned to Doctor Briggs and asked: 
" Doctor, what really is heresy?" 

Doctor Briggs, taken off his guard for a moment, 
looked blankly at his young questioner, and repeated: 
"What is heresy?" 

"Yes," repeated Bok, "just what is heresy, Doctor?" 

"That's right," interjected Doctor Patton, with a 
twinkle in his eyes, "what is heresy, Briggs?" 

" Would you be willing to write it down for me?" 
asked Bok, fearful that he should not remember Doctor 
Briggs's definition even if he were told. 

And Doctor Briggs wrote: 

Heresy is anything in doctrine or practice that departs 
from the mind of the Church as officially denned. 

Charles A. Briggs. 

"Let me see," asked Doctor Patton, and when he 
read it, he muttered: "Humph, pretty broad, pretty 
broad." 

"Well," answered the nettled Doctor Briggs, "per- 
haps you can give a less broad definition, Patton." 

"No, no," answered the Princeton theologian, as the 



146 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

slightest wink came from the eye nearest Bok, "I 
wouldn't attempt it for a moment. Too much for me." 

On another occasion, as the two were busy in their 
discussion of some article to be inserted in the magazine, 
Bok listening with all his might, Doctor Patton, sud- 
denly turning to the young listener, asked, in the midst 
of the argument: "Whom are the Giants going to play 
this afternoon, Bok?" 

Doctor Briggs's face was a study. For a moment the 
drift of the question was an enigma to him : then realiz- 
ing that an important theological discussion had been 
interrupted by a trivial baseball question, he gathered 
up his papers and stamped violently out of the office. 
Doctor Patton made no comment, but, with a smile, 
he asked Bok: "Johnnie Ward going to play to-day, do 
you know? Thought I might ask Mr. Scribner if you 
could go up to the game this afternoon." 

It is unnecessary to say to which of the two men Bok 
was the more attracted, and when it came, each quarter, 
to figuring how many articles could go into the Review 
without exceeding the cost limit fixed by the house, it 
was always a puzzle to Doctor Briggs why the ma- 
jority of the articles left out were invariably those that 
he had brought in, while many of those which Doctor 
Patton handed in somehow found their place, upon the 
final assembling, among the contents. 

"Your articles are so long," Bok would explain. 

"Long?" Doctor Briggs would echo. "You don't 
measure theological discussions by the yardstick, young 
man." 

" Perhaps not," the young assembler would maintain. 



LAST YEARS IN NEW YORK 147 

"But we have to do some measuring here by the com- 
position-stick, just the same." 

And the Union Seminary theologian was never able 
successfully, to vault that hurdle ! 

From his boyhood days (up to the present writing) 
Bok was a pronounced baseball "fan," and so Doctor 
Patton appealed to a warm place in the young man's 
heart when he asked him the questions about the New 
York baseball team. There was, too, a baseball team 
among the Scribner young men of which Bok was a 
part. This team played, each Saturday afternoon, a 
team from another publishing house, and for two sea- 
sons it was unbeatable. Not only was this baseball 
aggregation close to the hearts of the Scribner em- 
ployees, but, in an important game, the junior member 
of the firm played on it and the senior member was a 
spectator. Frank N. Doubleday played on first base; 
William D. Moffat, later of Moffat, Yard & Company, 
and now editor of The Mentor, was behind the bat; Bok 
pitched; Ernest Dressel North, the present authority 
on rare editions of books, was in the field, as were also 
Ray Safford, now a director in the Scribner corporation, 
and Owen W. Brewer, at present a prominent figure in 
Chicago's book world. It was a happy group, all closely 
banded together in their business interests and in their 
human relations as well. 

With Scribner's Magazine now in the periodical field, 
Bok would be asked on his trips to the publishing houses 
to have an eye open for advertisements for that periodical 
as well. Hence his education in the solicitation of ad- 
vertisements became general, and gave him a sympa- 



148 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

thetic understanding of the problems of the advertising 
solicitor which was to stand him in good stead when, in 
his later experience, he was called upon to view the busi- 
ness problems of a magazine from the editor's position. 
His knowledge of the manufacture of the two magazines 
in his charge was likewise educative, as was the fascinat- 
ing study of typography which always had, and has to- 
day, a wonderful attraction for him. 

It was, however, in connection with the advertising 
of the general books of the house, and in his relations 
with their authors, that Bok found his greatest interest. 
It was for him to find the best manner in which to in- 
troduce to the public the books issued by the house, 
and the general study of the psychology of publicity 
which this called for attracted Bok greatly. 

Bok was now asked to advertise a novel published by 
the Scribners which, when it was issued, and for years 
afterward, was pointed to as a proof of the notion that 
a famous name was all that was necessary to ensure the 
acceptance of a manuscript by even a leading publishing 
house. The facts in the case were that this manuscript 
was handed in one morning by a friend of the house with 
the remark that he submitted it at the suggestion of the 
author, who did not desire that his identity should be 
known until after the manuscript had been read and 
passed upon by the house. It was explained that the 
writer was not a famous author; in fact, he had never 
written anything before; this was his first book of any 
sort; he merely wanted to "try his wings." The manu- 
script was read in due time by the Scribner readers, and 
the mutual friend was advised that the house would be 



LAST YEARS IN NEW YORK 149 

glad to publish the novel, and was ready to execute and 
send a contract to the author if the firm knew in whose 
name the agreement should be made. Then came the 
first intimation of the identity of the author: the friend 
wrote that if the publishers would look in the right-hand 
corner of the first page of the manuscript they would 
find there the author's name. Search finally revealed 
an asterisk. The author of the novel (Valentino) was 
William Waldorf Astor. 

Although the Scribners did not publish Mark Twain's 
books, the humorist was a frequent visitor to the retail 
store, and occasionally he would wander back to the 
publishing department located at the rear of the store, 
which was then at 743 Broadway. 

Smoking was not permitted in the Scribner offices, 
and, of course, Mark Twain was always smoking. He 
generally smoked a granulated tobacco which he kept 
in a long check bag made of silk and rubber. When 
he sauntered to the back of the Scribner store, he would 
generally knock the residue from the bowl of the pipe, 
take out the stem, place it in his vest pocket, like a 
pencil, and drop the bowl into the bag containing the 
granulated tobacco. When he wanted to smoke again 
(which was usually five minutes later) he would fish out 
the bowl, now automatically filled with tobacco, in- 
sert the stem, and strike a light. One afternoon as he 
wandered into Bok's office, he was just putting his pipe 
away. The pipe, of the corncob variety, was very aged 
and black. Bok asked him whether it was the only 
pipe he had. 

"Oh, no," Mark answered, "I have several. But 



150 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

they're all like this. I never smoke a new corncob pipe. 
A new pipe irritates the throat. No corncob pipe is 
fit for anything until it has been used at least a fort- 
night." 

"How do you break in a pipe, then?" asked Bok. 

"That's the trick," answered Mark Twain. "I get a 
cheap man — a man who doesn't amount to much, any- 
how: who would be as well, or better, dead — and pay 
him a dollar to break in the pipe for me. I get him to 
smoke the pipe for a couple of weeks, then put in a new 
stem, and continue operations as long as the pipe holds 
together." 

Bok's newspaper syndicate work had brought him 
into contact with Fanny Davenport, then at the zenith 
of her career as an actress. Miss Davenport, or Mrs. 
Melbourne McDowell as she was in private life, had 
never written for print; but Bok, seeing that she had 
something to say about her art and the ability to say it, 
induced her to write for the newspapers through his 
syndicate. The actress was overjoyed to have re- 
vealed to her a hitherto unsuspected gift; Bok published 
her articles successfully, and gave her a publicity that 
her press agent had never dreamed of. Miss Daven- 
port became interested in the young publisher, and 
after watching the methods which he employed in suc- 
cessfully publishing her writings, decided to try to ob- 
tain his services as her assistant manager. She broached 
the subject, offered him a five years' contract for forty 
weeks' service, with a minimum of fifteen weeks each 
year to spend in or near New York, at a salary, for 
the first year, of three thousand dollars, increasing 



LAST YEARS IN NEW YORK 151 

annually until the fifth year, when he was to receive 
sixty-four hundred dollars. 

Bok was attracted to the work: he had never seen the 
United States, was anxious to do so, and looked upon 
the chance as a good opportunity. Miss Davenport 
had the contract made out, executed it, and then, in 
high glee, Bok took it home to show it to his mother. 
He had reckoned without question upon her approval, 
only to meet with an immediate and decided negative 
to the proposition as a whole, general and specific. 
She argued that the theatrical business was not for him; 
and she saw ahead and pointed out so strongly the mis- 
take he was making that he sought Miss Davenport the 
next day and told her of his mother's stand. The actress 
suggested that she see the mother; she did, that day, 
and she came away from the interview a wiser if a sadder 
woman. Miss Davenport frankly told Bok that with 
such an instinctive objection as his mother seemed to 
have, he was right to follow her advice and the contract 
was not to be thought of. 

It is difficult to say whether this was or was not for 
Bok the turning-point which comes in the fife of every 
young man. Where the venture into theatrical life 
would have led him no one can, of course, say. One 
thing is certain: Bok's instinct and reason both failed 
him in this instance. He believes now that had his 
venture into the theatrical field been temporary or 
permanent, the experiment, either way, would have been 
disastrous. 

Looking back and viewing the theatrical profession 
even as it was in that day (of a much higher order than 



152 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

now), he is convinced he would never have been happy in 
it. He might have found this out in a year or more, 
after the novelty of travelling had worn off, and asked 
release from his contract; in that case he would have 
broken his line of progress in the publishing business. 
From whatever viewpoint he has looked back upon this, 
which he now believes to have been the crisis in his life, 
he is convinced that his mother's instinct saved him from 
a grievous mistake. 

The Scribner house, in its foreign-book department, 
had imported some copies of Bourrienne's Life of Na- 
poleon, and a set had found its way to Bok's desk for 
advertising purposes. He took the books home to glance 
them over, found himself interested, and sat up half the 
night to read them. Then he took the set to the editor 
of the New York Star, and suggested that such a book 
warranted a special review, and offered to leave the 
work for the literary editor. 

"You have read the books ?" asked the editor. 

"Every word," returned Bok. 

"Then, why don't you write the review?" suggested 
the editor. 

This was a new thought to Bok. "Never wrote a 
review," he said. 

"Try it," answered the editor. "Write a column." 

"A column wouldn't scratch the surface of this book," 
suggested the embryo reviewer. 

"Well, give it what it is worth," returned the editor. 

Bok did. He wrote a page of the paper. 

"Too much, too much," said the editor. "Heavens, 
man, we've got to get some news into this paper." 



LAST YEARS IN NEW YORK 153 

"Very well," returned the reviewer. "Read it, and 
cut it where you like. That's the way I see the book." 

And next Sunday the review appeared, word for word, 
as Bok had written it. His first review had successfully 
passed ! 

But Bok was really happiest in that part of his work 
which concerned itself with the writing of advertise- 
ments. The science of advertisement writing, which 
meant to him the capacity to say much in little space, 
appealed strongly. He found himself more honestly 
attracted to this than to the writing of his literary letter, 
his editorials, or his book reviewing, of which he was 
now doing a good deal. He determined to follow where 
his bent led; he studied the mechanics of unusual ad- 
vertisements wherever he saw them; he eagerly sought 
a knowledge of typography and its best handling in an 
advertisement, and of the value and relation of illustra- 
tions to text. He perceived that his work along these 
lines seemed to give satisfaction to his employers, since 
they placed more of it in his hands to do; and he sought 
in every way to become proficient in the art. 

To publishers whose advertisements he secured for 
the periodicals in his charge, he made suggestions for 
the improvement of their announcements, and found 
his suggestions accepted. He early saw the value of 
white space as one of the most effective factors in ad- 
vertising; but this was a difficult argument, he soon 
found, to convey successfully to others. A white space 
in an advertisement was to the average publisher some- 
thing to fill up; Bok saw in it something to cherish for 
its effectiveness. But he never got very far with his 



154 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

idea: he could not convince (perhaps because he failed 
to express his ideas convincingly) his advertisers of 
what he felt and believed so strongly. 

An occasion came in which he was permitted to prove 
his contention. The Scribners had published Andrew 
Carnegie's volume, Triumphant Democracy, and the 
author desired that some special advertising should be 
done in addition to that allowed by the appropriation 
made by the house. To Bok's grateful ears came the 
injunction from the steel magnate: "Use plenty of 
white space." In conjunction with Mr. Doubleday, 
Bok prepared and issued this extra advertising, and for 
once, at least, the wisdom of using white space was 
demonstrated. But it was only a flash in the pan. 
Publishers were unwilling to pay for "unused space," 
as they termed it. Each book was a separate unit, 
others argued: it was not like advertising one article 
continuously in 'which money could be invested; and 
only a limited amount could be spent on a book which 
ran its course, even at its best, in a very short time. 

And, rightly or wrongly, book advertising has con- 
tinued much along the same lines until the present day. 
In fact, in no department of manufacturing or selling 
activity has there been so little progress during the past 
fifty years as in bringing books to the notice of the public. 
In all other lines, the producer has brought his wares to 
the public, making it easier and still easier for it to ob- 
tain his goods, while the public, if it wants a book, must 
still seek the book instead of being sought by it. 

That there is a tremendous unsupplied book demand 
in this country there is no doubt: the wider distribution 



LAST YEARS IN NEW YORK 155 

and easier access given to periodicals prove this point. 
Now and then there has been tried an unsupported or 
not well-thought-out plan for bringing books to a public 
not now reading them, but there seems little or no under- 
standing of the fact that there lies an uncultivated field 
of tremendous promise to the publisher who will strike 
out on a new line and market his books, so that the 
public will not have to ferret out a book-store or wind 
through the maze of a department store. The Ameri- 
can reading public is not the book-reading public that 
it should be or could be made to be; but the habit must 
be made easy for it to acquire. Books must be placed 
where the public can readily get at them. It will not, 
of its own volition, seek them. It did not do so with 
magazines; it will not do so with books. 

In the meanwhile, Bok's literary letter had prospered 
until it was now published in some forty-five newspapers. 
One of these was the Philadelphia Times. In that 
paper, each week, the letter had been read by Mr. 
Cyrus H. K. Curtis, the owner and publisher of The 
Ladies' Home Journal. Mr. Curtis had decided that 
he needed an editor for his magazine, in order to relieve 
his wife, who was then editing it, and he fixed upon the 
writer of Literary Leaves as his man. He came to New 
York, consulted Will Carleton, the poet, and found that 
while the letter was signed by William J. Bok, it was 
actually written by his brother who was with the 
Scribners. So he sought Bok out there. 

The publishing house had been advertising in the 
Philadelphia magazine, so that the visit of Mr. Curtis 
was not an occasion for surprise. Mr. Curtis told Bok 



156 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

he had read his literary letter in the Philadelphia Times , 
and suggested that perhaps he might write a similar 
department for The Ladies' Home Journal, Bok saw 
no reason why he should not, and told Mr. Curtis so, 
and promised to send over a trial instalment. The 
Philadelphia publisher then deftly went on, explained 
editorial conditions in his magazine, and, recognizing 
the ethics of the occasion by not offering Bok another 
position while he was already occupying one, asked 
him if he knew the man for the place. 

"Are you talking at me or through me?" asked Bok. 

"Both," replied Mr. Curtis. 

This was in April of 1889. 

Bok promised Mr. Curtis he would look over the field, 
and meanwhile he sent over to Philadelphia the prom- 
ised trial "literary gossip" instalment. It pleased Mr. 
Curtis, who suggested a monthly department, to which 
Bok consented. He also turned over in his mind the 
wisdom of interrupting his line of progress with the 
Scribners, and in New York, and began to contemplate 
the possibilities in Philadelphia and the work there. 

He gathered a collection of domestic magazines then 
published, and looked them over to see what was al- 
ready in the field. Then he began to study himself, 
his capacity for the work, and the possibility of finding 
it congenial. He realized that it was absolutely for- 
eign to his Scribner work: that it meant a radical de- 
parture. But his work with his newspaper syndicate 
naturally occurred to him, and he studied it with a 
view of its adaptation to the field of the Philadelphia 
magazine. 



LAST YEARS IN NEW YORK 157 

His next step was to take into his confidence two or 
three friends whose judgment he trusted and discuss the 
possible change. Without an exception, they advised 
against it. The periodical had no standing, they argued; 
Bok would be out of sympathy with its general at- 
mosphere after his Scribner environment; he was now 
in the direct line of progress in New York publishing 
houses; and, to cap the climax, they each argued in 
turn, he would be buried in Philadelphia: New York 
was the centre, etc., etc. 

More than any other single argument, this last point 
destroyed Bok's faith in the judgment of his friends. 
He had had experience enough to realize that a man could 
not be buried in any city, provided he had the ability to 
stand out from his fellow-men. He knew from his 
biographical reading that cream will rise to the surface 
anywhere, in Philadelphia as well as in New York: it 
all depended on whether the cream was there: it was 
up to the man. Had he within him that peculiar, 
subtle something that, for the want of a better phrase, 
we call the editorial instinct? That was all there was 
to it, and that decision had to be his and his alone ! 

A business trip for the Scribners now calling him 
West, Bok decided to stop at Philadelphia, have a talk 
with Mr. Curtis, and look over his business plant. He 
did this, and found Mr. Curtis even more desirous than 
before to have him consider the position. Bok's in- 
stinct was strongly in favor of an acceptance. A nat- 
ural impulse moved him, without reasoning, to action. 
Reasoning led only to a cautious mental state, and cau- 
tion is a strong factor in the Dutch character. The 



158 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

longer he pursued a conscious process of reasoning, the 
farther he got from the position. But the instinct re- 
mained strong. 

On his way back from the West, he stopped in Phila- 
delphia again to consult his friend, George W. Childs; 
and here he found the only person who was ready to 
encourage him to make the change. 

Bok now laid the matter before his mother, in whose 
feminine instinct he had supreme confidence. With 
her, he met with instant discouragement. But in sub- 
sequent talks he found that her opposition was based 
not upon the possibilities inherent in the position, but 
on a mother's natural disinclination to be separated 
from one of her sons. In the case of Fanny Davenport's 
offer the mother's instinct was strong against the prop- 
osition itself. But in the present instance it was the 
mother's love that was speaking; not her instinct or 
judgment. 

Bok now consulted his business associates, and, to 
a man, they discouraged the step, but almost invariably 
upon the argument that it was suicidal to leave New 
York. He had now a glimpse of the truth that there is 
no man so provincially narrow as the un travelled New 
Yorker who believes in his heart that the sun rises in 
the East River and sets in the North River. 

He realized more keenly than ever before that the 
decision rested with him alone. On September i, 1889, 
Bok wrote to Mr. Curtis, accepting the position in 
Philadelphia; and on October 13 following he left 
the Scribners, where he had been so fortunate and so 
happy, and, after a week's vacation, followed where 




SIEKE GERTRUDE BOK 

Mother of Edward Bok 



LAST YEARS IN NEW YORK 159 

his instinct so strongly led, but where his reason 
wavered. 

On October 20, 1889, Edward Bok became the editor 
of The Ladies 1 Home Journal, 



CHAPTER XV 
SUCCESSFUL EDITORSHIP 

There is a popular notion that the editor of a woman's 
magazine should be a woman. At first thought, per- 
haps, this sounds logical. But it is a curious fact that 
by far the larger number of periodicals for women, the 
world over, are edited by men; and where, as in some 
cases, a woman is the proclaimed editor, the direction 
of the editorial policy is generally in the hands of a 
man, or group of men, in the background. Why this 
is so has never been explained, any more than why the 
majority of women's dressmakers are men; why music, 
with its larger appeal to women, has been and is still 
being composed, largely, by men, and why its greatest 
instrumental performers are likewise men; and why the 
church, with its larger membership of women, still has, 
as it always has had, men for its greatest preachers. 

In fact, we may well ponder whether the full editorial 
authority and direction of a modern magazine, either 
essentially feminine in its appeal or not, can safely be 
entrusted to a woman when one considers how largely 
executive is the nature of such a position, and how 
thoroughly sensitive the modern editor must be to the 
hundred and one practical business matters which to- 
day enter into and form so large a part of the editorial 
duties. We may question whether women have as 

yet had sufficient experience in the world of business to 

1 60 



SUCCESSFUL EDITORSHIP 161 

cope successfully with the material questions of a pivotal 
editorial position. Then, again, it is absolutely essential 
in the conduct of a magazine with a feminine or home 
appeal to have on the editorial staff women who are 
experts in their line; and the truth is that women will 
work infinitely better under the direction of a man than 
of a woman. 

It would seem from the present outlook that, for 
some time, at least, the so-called woman's magazine of 
large purpose and wide vision is very likely to be edited 
by a man. It is a question, however, whether the day 
of the woman's magazine, as we have known it, is not 
passing. Already the day has gone for the woman's 
magazine built on the old lines which now seem so gro- 
tesque and feeble in the light of modern growth. The 
interests of women and of men are being brought closer 
with the years, and it will not be long before they will 
entirely merge. This means a constantly diminishing 
necessity for the distinctly feminine magazine. 

Naturally, there will always be a field in the essentially 
feminine pursuits which have no place in the life of a 
man, but these are rapidly being cared for by books, 
gratuitously distributed, issued by the manufacturers 
of distinctly feminine and domestic wares; for such pub- 
lications the best talent is being employed, and the re- 
sults are placed within easy access of women, by means 
of newspaper advertisement, the store-counter, or the 
mails. These will sooner or later — and much sooner 
than later— supplant the practical portions of the wo- 
man's magazine, leaving only the general contents, which 
are equally interesting to men and to women. Hence 



1 62 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

the field for the magazine with the essentially feminine 
appeal is contracting rather than broadening, and it is 
likely to contract much more rapidly in the future. 

The field was altogether different when Edward Bok 
entered it in 1889. It was not only wide open, but 
fairly crying out to be filled. The day of Godey's 
Lady's Book had passed; Peterson's Magazine was 
breathing its last; and the home or women's magazines 
that had attempted to take their place were sorry af- 
fairs. It was this consciousness of a void ready to be 
filled that made the Philadelphia experiment so attrac- 
tive to the embryo editor. He looked over the field and 
reasoned that if such magazines as did exist could be 
fairly successful, if women were ready to buy such, how 
much greater response would there be to a magazine of 
higher standards, of larger initiative — a magazine that 
would be an authoritative clearing-house for all the 
problems confronting women in the home, that brought 
itself closely into contact with those problems and tried 
to solve them in an entertaining and efficient way; and 
yet a magazine of uplift and inspiration: a magazine, 
in other words, that would give light and leading in the 
woman's world. 

The method of editorial expression in the magazines 
of 1889 was also distinctly vague and prohibitively im- 
personal. The public knew the name of scarcely a single 
editor of a magazine : there was no personality that stood 
out in the mind: the accepted editorial expression was 
the indefinite "we"; no one ventured to use the first 
person singular and talk intimately to the reader. 
Edward Bok's biographical reading had taught him that 



SUCCESSFUL EDITORSHIP 163 

the American public loved a personality : that it was al- 
ways ready to recognize and follow a leader, provided, 
of course, that the qualities of leadership were demon- 
strated. He felt the time had come — the reference here 
and elsewhere is always to the realm of popular magazine 
literature appealing to a very wide audience — for the 
editor of some magazine to project his personality 
through the printed page and to convince the public 
that he was not an oracle removed from the people, 
but a real human being who could talk and not merely 
write on paper. 

He saw, too, that the average popular magazine of 
1889 failed of large success because it wrote down to the 
public — a grievous mistake that so many editors have 
made and still make. No one wants to be told, either 
directly or indirectly, that he knows less than he does, 
or even that he knows as little as he does: every one is 
benefited by the opposite implication, and the public 
will always follow the leader who comprehends this bit 
of psychology. There is always a happy medium be- 
tween shooting over the public's head and shooting too 
far under it. And it is because of the latter aim that 
we find the modern popular magazine the worthless 
thing that, in so many instances, it is to-day. 

It is the rare editor who rightly gauges his public 
psychology. Perhaps that is why, in the enormous 
growth of the modern magazine, there have been pro- 
duced so few successful editors. The average editor is 
obsessed with the idea of "giving the public what it 
wants/' whereas, in fact, the public, while it knows 
what it wants when it sees it, cannot clearly express its 



1 64 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

wants, and never wants the thing that it does ask for, 
although it thinks it does at the time. But woe to the 
editor and his periodical if he heeds that siren voice ! 

The editor has, therefore, no means of rinding it out 
aforehand by putting his ear to the ground. Only by 
the simplest rules of psychology can he edit rightly so 
that he may lead, and to the average editor of to-day, 
it is to be feared, psychology is a closed book. His 
mind is all too often focussed on the circulation and ad- 
vertising, and all too little on the intangibles that will 
bring to his periodical the results essential in these 
respects. 

The editor is the pivot of a magazine. On him every- 
thing turns. If his gauge of the public is correct, readers 
will come: they cannot help coming to the man who has 
something to say himself, or who presents writers who 
have. And if the reader comes, the advertiser must 
come. He must go where his largest market is: where 
the buyers are. The advertiser, instead of being the 
most difficult factor in a magazine proposition, as is so 
often mistakenly thought, is, in reality, the simplest. 
He has no choice but to advertise in the successful peri- 
odical. He must come along. The editor need never 
worry about him. If the advertiser shuns the periodi- 
cal's pages, the fault is rarely that of the advertiser: 
the editor can generally look for the reason nearer home. 

One of Edward Bok's first acts as editor was to offer 
a series of prizes for the best answers to three questions 
he put to his readers: what in the magazine did they like 
least and why; what did they like best and why; and 
what omitted feature or department would they like to 



SUCCESSFUL EDITORSHIP 165 

see installed? Thousands of answers came, and these 
the editor personally read carefully and classified. Then 
he gave his readers' suggestions back to them in articles 
and departments, but never on the level suggested by 
them. He gave them the subjects they asked for, but 
invariably on a slightly higher plane; and each year he 
raised the standard a notch. He always kept "a huckle- 
berry or two" ahead of his readers. His psychology 
was simple: come down to the level which the public 
sets and it will leave you at the moment you do it. 
It always expects of its leaders that they shall keep a 
notch above or a step ahead. The American public 
always wants something a little better than it asks for, 
and the successful man, in catering to it, is he who fol- 
lows this golden rule. 



CHAPTER XVI 
FIRST YEARS AS A WOMAN'S EDITOR 

Edward Bok has often been referred to as the one 
"who made The Ladies' Home Journal out of nothing," 
who "built it from the ground up," or, in similar terms, 
implying that when he became its editor in 1889 the 
magazine was practically non-existent. This is far from 
the fact. The magazine was begun in 1883, and had 
been edited by Mrs. Cyrus H. K. Curtis, for six years, 
under her maiden name of Louisa Knapp, before Bok 
undertook its editorship. Mrs. Curtis had laid a solid 
foundation of principle and policy for the magazine: 
it had achieved a circulation of 440,000 copies a month 
when she transferred the editorship, and it had already 
acquired such a standing in the periodical world as to 
attract the advertisements of Charles Scribner's Sons, 
which Mr. Doubleday, and later Bok himself, gave to 
the Philadelphia magazine — advertising which was never 
given lightly, or without the most careful investigation 
of the worth of the circulation of a periodical. 

What every magazine publisher knows as the most 

troublous years in the establishment of a periodical, 

the first half-dozen years of its existence, had already 

been weathered by the editor and publisher. The wife 

as editor and the husband as publisher had combined to 

lay a solid basis upon which Bok had only to build: his 

task was simply to rear a structure upon the foundation 

already laid. It is to the vision and to the genius of the 

166 



FIRST YEARS AS A WOMAN'S EDITOR 167 

first editor of The Ladies' Home Journal that the un- 
precedented success of the magazine is primarily due. 
It was the purpose and the policy of making a magazine 
of authoritative service for the womanhood of America, 
a service which would visualize for womanhood its 
highest domestic estate, that had won success for the 
periodical from its inception. It is difficult to believe, 
in the multiplicity of similar magazines to-day, that such 
a purpose was new; that The Ladies 7 Home Journal was 
a path-finder; but the convincing proof is found in the 
fact that all the later magazines of this class have fol- 
lowed in the wake of the periodical conceived by Mrs. 
Curtis, and have ever since been its imitators. 

When Edward Bok succeeded Mrs. Curtis, he imme- 
diately encountered another popular misconception of 
a woman's magazine — the conviction that if a man is 
the editor of a periodical with a distinctly feminine ap- 
peal, he must, as the term goes, "understand women." 
If Bok had believed this to be true, he would never have 
assumed the position. How deeply rooted is this be- 
lief was brought home to him on every hand when his 
decision to accept the Philadelphia position was an- 
nounced. His mother, knowing her son better than did 
any one else, looked at him with amazement. She 
could not believe that he was serious in his decision to 
cater to women's needs when he knew so little about 
them. His friends, too, were intensely amused, and 
took no pains to hide their amusement from him. 
They knew him to be the very opposite of "a lady's 
man," and when they were not convulsed with hilarity 
they were incredulous and marvelled. 



1 68 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

No man, perhaps, could have been chosen for the 
position who had a less intimate knowledge of women. 
Bok had no sister, no women confidantes: he had 
lived with and for his mother. She was the only woman 
he really knew or who really knew him. His boyhood 
days had been too full of poverty and struggle to per- 
mit him to mingle with the opposite sex. And it is a 
curious fact that Edward Bok's instinctive attitude 
toward women was that of avoidance. He did not dis- 
like women, but it could not be said that he liked them. 
They had never interested him. Of women, therefore, 
he knew little; of their needs less. Nor had he the 
slightest desire, even as an editor, to know them better, 
or to seek to understand them. Even at that age, he 
knew that, as a man, he could not, no matter what 
effort he might make, and he let it go at that. 

What he saw in the position was not the need to know 
women; he could employ women for that purpose. He 
perceived clearly that the editor of a magazine was 
largely an executive: his was principally the work of 
direction; of studying currents and movements, watch- 
ing their formation, their tendency, their efficacy if ad- 
vocated or translated into actuality; and then selecting 
from the horizon those that were for the best interests of 
the home. For a home was something Edward Bok did 
understand. He had always lived in one; had struggled 
to keep it together, and he knew every inch of the hard 
road that makes for domestic permanence amid adverse 
financial conditions. And at the home he aimed rather 
than at the woman in it. 

It was upon his instinct that he intended to rely rather 



FIRST YEARS AS A WOMAN'S EDITOR 169 

than upon any knowledge of woman. His first act in 
the editorial chair of The Ladies 1 Home Journal showed 
him to be right in this diagnosis of himself, for the in- 
cident proved not only how correct was his instinct, but 
how woefully lacking he was in any knowledge of the 
feminine nature. 

He had divined the fact that in thousands of cases 
the American mother was not the confidante of her 
daughter, and reasoned if an inviting human personality 
could be created on the printed page that would supply 
this lamentable lack of American family life, girls would 
flock to such a figure. But all depended on the confidence 
which the written word could inspire. He tried several 
writers, but in each case the particular touch that he 
sought for was lacking. It seemed so simple to him, 
and yet he could not translate it to others. Then, 
in desperation, he wrote an instalment of such a de- 
partment as he had in mind himself, intending to show 
it to a writer he had in view, thus giving her a visual 
demonstration. He took it to the office the next morn- 
ing, intending to have it copied, but the manuscript 
accidentally attached itself to another intended for the 
composing-room, and it was not until the superintendent 
of the composing-room during the day said to him, "I 
didn't know Miss Ashmead wrote," that Bok knew 
where his manuscript had gone. 

"Miss Ashmead ?" asked the puzzled editor. 

"Yes, Miss Ashmead in your department," was the 
answer. 

The whereabouts of the manuscript was then dis- 
closed, and the editor called for its return. He had 



17© THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

called the department "Side Talks with Girls" by 
Ruth Ashmead. 

"My girls all hope this is going into the magazine, " 
said the superintendent when he returned the manu- 
script. 

"Why?" asked the editor. 

"Well, they say it's the best stuff for girls they 
have ever read. They'd love to know Miss Ashmead 
better." 

Here was exactly what the editor wanted, but he was 
the author! He changed the name to Ruth Ashmore, 
and decided to let the manuscript go into the magazine. 
He reasoned that he would then have a month in which 
to see the writer he had in mind, and he would show 
her the proof. But a month filled itself with other 
duties, and before the editor was aware of it, the com- 
position-room wanted "copy" for the second instalment 
of "Side Talks with Girls." Once more the editor fur- 
nished the copy ! 

Within two weeks after the second article had been 
written, the magazine containing the first instalment of 
the new department appeared, and the next day two 
hundred letters were received for "Ruth Ashmore," 
with the mail-clerk asking where they should be sent. 
"Leave them with me, please," replied the editor. On 
the following day the mail-clerk handed him five hun- 
dred more. 

The editor now took two letters from the top and 
opened them. He never opened the third ! That 
evening he took the bundle home, and told his mother 
of his predicament. She read the letters and looked 



FIRST YEARS AS A WOMAN'S EDITOR 171 

at her son. "You have no right to read these," she 
said. The son readily agreed. 

His instinct had correctly interpreted the need, but 
he never dreamed how far the feminine nature would 
reveal itself on paper. 

The next morning the editor, with his letters, took 
the train for New York and sought his friend, Mrs. 
Isabel A. Mallon, the "Bab" of his popular syndicate 
letter. 

"Have you read this department?" he asked, point- 
ing to the page in the magazine. 

"I have," answered Mrs. Mallon. "Very well done, 
too, it is. Who is 'Ruth Ashmore'?" 

"You are," answered Edward Bok. And while it 
took considerable persuasion, from that time on Mrs. 
Mallon became Ruth Ashmore, the most ridiculed writer 
in the magazine world, and yet the most helpful editor 
that ever conducted a department in periodical litera- 
ture. For sixteen years she conducted the department, 
until she passed away, her last act being to dictate a 
letter to a correspondent. In those sixteen years she 
had received one hundred and fifty-eight thousand let- 
ters: she kept three stenographers busy, and the num- 
ber of girls who to-day bless the name of Ruth Ashmore 
is legion. 

But the newspaper humorists who insisted that Ruth 
Ashmore was none other than Edward Bok never knew 
the partial truth of their joke ! 

The editor soon supplemented this department with 
one dealing with the spiritual needs of the mature 
woman. "The King's Daughters" was then an or- 



172 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

ganization at the summit of its usefulness, with Margaret 
Bottome its president. Edward Bok had heard Mrs. 
Bottome speak, had met her personally, and decided 
that she was the editor for the department he had in 
mind. 

"I want it written in an intimate way as if there were 
only two persons in the world, you and the person read- 
ing. I want heart to speak to heart. We will make that 
the title," said the editor, and unconsciously he thus 
created the title that has since become familiar wherever 
English is spoken: "Heart to Heart Talks." The 
title gave the department an instantaneous hearing; 
the material in it carried out its spirit, and soon Mrs. 
Bottome's department rivalled, in popularity, the page 
by Ruth Ashmore. 

These two departments more than anything else, and 
the irresistible picture of a man editing a woman's 
magazine, brought forth an era of newspaper para- 
graphing and a flood of so-called " humorous" references 
to the magazine and editor. It became the vogue to 
poke fun at both. The humorous papers took it up, 
the cartoonists helped it along, and actors introduced 
the name of the magazine on the stage in plays and 
skits. Never did a periodical receive such an amount 
of gratuitous advertising. Much of the wit was ab- 
solutely without malice: some of it was written by Ed- 
ward Bok's best friends, who volunteered to "let up" 
would he but raise a finger. 

But he did not raise the finger. No one enjoyed the 
"paragraphs" more heartily when the wit was good, and 
in that case, if the writer was unknown to him, he sought 



FIRST YEARS AS A WOMAN'S EDITOR 173 

him out and induced him to write for him. In this way, 
George Fitch was found on the Peoria, Illinois, Transcript 
and introduced to his larger public in the magazine and 
book world through The Ladies'* Home Journal, whose 
editor he believed he had "most unmercifully roasted"; 
— but he had done it so cleverly that the editor at once 
saw his possibilities. 

When all his friends begged Bok to begin proceedings 
against the New York Evening Sun because of the 
libellous ( ?) articles written about him by " The Woman 
About Town, " the editor admired the style rather than 
the contents, made her acquaintance, and secured her as 
a regular writer: she contributed to the magazine some 
of the best things published in its pages. But she did 
not abate her opinions of Bok and his magazine in her 
articles in the newspaper, and Bok did not ask it of 
her: he felt that she had a right to her opinions — those 
he was not buying; but he was eager to buy her direct 
style in treating subjects he knew no other woman 
could so effectively handle. 

And with his own limited knowledge of the sex, he 
needed, and none knew it better than did he, the ablest 
women he could obtain to help him realize his ideals. 
Their personal opinions of him did not matter so long 
as he could command their best work. Sooner or later, 
when his purposes were better understood, they might 
alter those opinions. For that he could afford to wait. 
But he could not wait to get their work. 

By this time the editor had come to see that the power 
of a magazine might lie more securely behind the 
printed page than in it. He had begun to accustom his 



174 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

readers to writing to his editors upon all conceivable 
problems. 

This he decided to encourage. He employed an ex- 
pert in each line of feminine endeavor, upon the distinct 
understanding that the most scrupulous attention should 
be given to her correspondence: that every letter, no 
matter how inconsequential, should be answered quickly, 
fully, and courteously, with the questioner always en- 
couraged to come again if any problem of whatever na- 
ture came to her. He told his editors that ignorance 
on any question was a misfortune, not a crime; and he 
wished their correspondence treated in the most courte- 
ous and helpful spirit. 

Step by step, the editor built up this service behind the 
magazine until he had a staff of thirty-five editors on 
the monthly pay-roll; in each issue, he proclaimed the 
willingness of these editors to answer immediately any 
questions by mail, he encouraged and cajoled his readers 
to form the habit of looking upon his magazine as a 
great clearing-house of information. Before long, the 
letters streamed in by the tens of thousands during a 
year. The editor still encouraged, and the total ran 
into the hundreds of thousands, until during the last 
year, before the service was finally stopped by the 
Great War of 191 7-18, the yearly correspondence totalled 
nearly a million letters. 

The work of some of these editors never reached the 
printed page, and yet was vastly more important than 
any published matter could possibly be. Out of the 
work of Ruth Ashmore, for instance, there grew a class 
of cases of the most confidential nature. These cases, 



FIRST YEARS AS A WOMAN'S EDITOR 175 

distributed all over the country, called for special in- 
vestigation and personal contact. Bok selected Mrs. 
Lyman Abbott for this piece of delicate work, and, 
through the wide acquaintance of her husband, she was 
enabled to reach, personally, every case in every locality, 
and bring personal help to bear on it. These cases 
mounted into the hundreds, and the good accomplished 
through this quiet channel cannot be overestimated. 

The lack of opportunity for an education in Bok's 
own life led him to cast about for some plan whereby 
an education might be obtained without expense by any 
one who desired. He finally hit upon the simple plan 
of substituting free scholarships for the premiums then 
so frequently offered by periodicals for subscriptions 
secured. Free musical education at the leading con- 
servatories was first offered to any girl who would secure 
a certain number of subscriptions to The Ladies 1 Home 
Journal, the complete offer being a year's free tuition, 
with free room, free board, free piano in her own room, 
and all travelling expenses paid. The plan was an im- 
mediate success: the solicitation of a subscription by a 
girl desirous of educating herself made an irresistible 
appeal. 

This plan was soon extended, so as to include all the 
girls' colleges, and finally all the men's colleges, so that 
a free education might be possible at any educational 
institution. So comprehensive it became that to the 
close of 1 91 9, one thousand four hundred and fifty- 
five free scholarships had been awarded. The plan has 
now been in operation long enough to have produced 
some of the leading singers and instrumental artists of 



176 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

the day, whose names are familiar to all, as well as in- 
structors in colleges and scores of teachers; and to have 
sent several score of men into conspicuous positions in 
the business and professional world. 

Edward Bok has always felt that but for his own in- 
ability to secure an education, and his consequent de- 
sire for self-improvement, the realization of the need in 
others might not have been so strongly felt by him, and 
that his plan whereby thousands of others were bene- 
fited might never have been realized. 

The editor's correspondence was revealing, among 
other deficiencies, the wide-spread unpreparedness of the 
average American girl for motherhood, and her desperate 
ignorance when a new life was given her. On the theory 
that with the realization of a vital need there is always 
the person to meet it, Bok consulted the authorities of 
the Babies' Hospital of New York, and found Doctor 
Emmet Holt's house physician, Doctor Emelyn L. Cool- 
idge. To the authorities in the world of babies, Bok's 
discovery was, of course, a known and serious fact. 

Doctor Coolidge proposed that the magazine create a 
department of questions and answers devoted to the 
problems of young mothers. This was done, and from 
the publication of the first issue the questions began to 
come in. Within five years the department had grown 
to such proportions that Doctor Coolidge proposed a 
plan whereby mothers might be instructed, by mail, in 
the rearing of babies — in their general care, their feeding, 
and the complete hygiene of the nursery. 

Bok had already learned, in his editorial experience, 
carefully to weigh a woman's instinct against a man's 



FIRST YEARS AS A WOMAN'S EDITOR 177 

judgment, but the idea of raising babies by mail floored 
him. He reasoned, however, that a woman, and more 
particularly one who had been in a babies' hospital for 
years, knew more about babies than he could possibly 
know. He consulted baby-specialists in New York 
and Philadelphia, and, with one accord, they declared 
the plan not only absolutely impracticable but positively 
dangerous. Bok's confidence in woman's instinct, how- 
ever, persisted, and he asked Doctor Coolidge to map 
out a plan. 

This called for the services of two physicians: Miss 
Marianna Wheeler, for many years superintendent of 
the Babies' Hospital, was to look after the prospective 
mother before the baby's birth; and Doctor Coolidge, 
when the baby was born, would immediately send to 
the young mother a printed list of comprehensive 
questions, which, when answered, would be immediately 
followed by a full set of directions as to the care of the 
child, including carefully prepared food formulae. At 
the end of the first month, another set of questions 
was to be forwarded for answer by the mother, and this 
monthly service was to be continued until the child 
reached the age of two years. The contact with the 
mother would then become intermittent, dependent 
upon the condition of mother and child. All the direc- 
tions and formulae were to be used only under the direc- 
tion of the mother's attendant physician, so that the 
fullest cooperation might be established between the 
physician on the case and the advisory department of 
the magazine. 

Despite advice to the contrary, Bok decided, after 



178 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

consulting a number of mothers, to establish the system. 
It was understood that the greatest care was to be exer- 
cised : the most expert advice, if needed, was to be sought 
and given, and the thousands of cases at the Babies' 
Hospital were to be laid under contribution. 

There was then begun a magazine department which 
was to be classed among the most clear-cut pieces of suc- 
cessful work achieved by The Ladies' Home Journal. 

Step by step, the new departure won its way, and was 
welcomed eagerly by thousands of young mothers. It 
was not long before the warmest commendation from 
physicians all over the country was received. Prompt- 
ness of response and thoroughness of diagnosis were, of 
course, the keynotes of the service : where the cases were 
urgent, the special delivery post and, later, the night- 
letter telegraph service were used. 

The plan is now in its eleventh year of successful 
operation. Some idea of the enormous extent of its 
service can be gathered from the amazing figures that, 
at the close of the tenth year, show over forty thousand 
prospective mothers have been advised, while the num- 
ber of babies actually " raised" by Doctor Coolidge ap- 
proaches eighty thousand. Fully ninety-five of every 
hundred of these babies registered have remained under 
the monthly letter-care of Doctor Coolidge until their 
first year, when the mothers receive a diet list which 
has proved so effective for future guidance that many 
mothers cease to report regularly. Eighty-five out of 
every hundred babies have remained in the registry 
until their graduation at the age of two. Over eight 
large sets of library drawers are required for the records 



FIRST YEARS AS A WOMAN'S EDITOR 179 

of the babies always under the supervision of the reg- 
istry. 

Scores of physicians who vigorously opposed the work 
at the start have amended their opinions and now not 
only give their enthusiastic endorsement, but have 
adopted Doctor Coolidge's food formulae for their 
private and hospital cases. 

It was this comprehensive personal service, built up 
back of the magazine from the start, that gave the peri- 
odical so firm and unique a hold on its clientele. It was 
not the printed word that was its chief power: scores 
of editors who have tried to study and diagnose the ap- 
peal of the magazine from the printed page, have re- 
mained baffled at the remarkable confidence elicited 
from its readers. They never looked back of the maga- 
zine, and therefore failed to discover its secret. Bok 
went through three financial panics with the magazine, 
and while other periodicals severely suffered from di- 
minished circulation at such times, The Ladies' Home 
Journal always held its own. Thousands of women had 
been directly helped by the magazine; it had not re- 
mained an inanimate printed thing, but had become a 
vital need in the personal lives of its readers. 

So intimate had become this relation, so efficient was 
the service rendered, that its readers could not be pried 
loose from it; where women were willing and ready, 
when the domestic pinch came, to let go of other read- 
ing matter, they explained to their husbands or fathers 
that The Ladies' Home Journal was a necessity — they did 
not feel that they could do without it. The very quality 
for which the magazine had been held up to ridicule by 



i So THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

the unknowing and unthinking had become, with hun- 
dreds of thousands of women, its source of power and 
the bulwark of its success. 

Bok was beginning to realize the vision which had 
lured him from New York : that of putting into the field 
of American magazines a periodical that should become 
such a clearing-house as virtually to make it an institu- 
tion. 

He felt that, for the present at least, he had suffi- 
ciently established the personal contact with his readers 
through the more intimate departments, and decided 
to devote his efforts to the literary features of the maga- 
zine. 



CHAPTER XVII 
EUGENE FIELD'S PRACTICAL JOKES 

Eugene Field was one of Edward Bok's close friends 
and also his despair, as was likely to be the case with 
those who were intimate with the Western poet. One 
day Field said to Bok: "I am going to make you the 
most widely paragraphed man in America." The edi- 
tor passed the remark over, but he was to recall it often 
as his friend set out to make his boast good. 

The fact that Bok was unmarried and the editor of a 
woman's magazine appealed strongly to Field's sense of 
humor. He knew the editor's opposition to patent 
medicines, and so he decided to join the two facts in a 
paragraph, put on the wire at Chicago, to the effect that 
the editor was engaged to be married to Miss Lavinia 
Pinkham, the granddaughter of Mrs. Lydia Pinkham, 
of patent-medicine fame. The paragraph carefully de- 
scribed Miss Pinkham, the school where she had been 
educated, her talents, her wealth, etc. Field was wise 
enough to put the paragraph not in his own column in 
the Chicago News, lest it be considered in the light of 
one of his practical jokes, but on the news page of the 
paper, and he had it put on the Associated Press wire. 

He followed this up a few days later with a paragraph 
announcing Bok's arrival at a Boston hotel. Then came 
a paragraph saying that Miss Pinkham was sailing for 

181 



1 82 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

Paris to buy her trousseau. The paragraphs were 
worded in the most matter-of-fact manner, and com- 
pletely fooled the newspapers, even those of Boston. 
Field was delighted at the success of his joke, and the 
fact that Bok was in despair over the letters that poured 
in upon him added to Field's delight. 

He now asked Bok to come to Chicago. "I want you 
to know some of my cronies," he wrote. "Julia [his 
wife] is away, so we will shift for ourselves." Bok 
arrived in Chicago one Sunday afternoon, and was to 
dine at Field's house that evening. He found a jolly 
company: James Whitcomb Riley, Sol Smith Russell 
the actor, Opie Read, and a number of Chicago's literary 
men. 

When seven o'clock came, some one suggested to 
Field that something to eat might not be amiss. 

"Shortly," answered the poet. "Wife is out; cook 
is new, and dinner will be a little late. Be patient." 
But at eight o'clock there was still no dinner. Riley 
began to grow suspicious and slipped down-stairs. He 
found no one in the kitchen and the range cold. He 
came back and reported. "Nonsense," said Field. "It 
can't be." All went down-stairs to rind out the truth. 
"Let's get supper ourselves," suggested Russell. Then 
it was discovered that not a morsel of food was to be 
found in the refrigerator, closet, or cellar. "That's a 
joke on us," said Field. "Julia has left us without a 
crumb to eat." 

It was then nine o'clock. Riley and Bok held a coun- 
cil of war and decided to slip out and buy some food, 
only to find that the front, basement, and back doors 



EUGENE FIELD'S PRACTICAL JOKES 183 

were locked and the keys missing! Field was very 
sober. "Thorough woman, that wife of mine," he com- 
mented. But his friends knew better. 

Finally, the Hoosier poet and the Philadelphia editor 
crawled through one of the basement windows and 
started on a foraging expedition. Of course, Field lived 
in a residential section where there were few stores, and 
on Sunday these were closed. There was nothing to do 
but to board a down-town car. Finally they found a 
delicatessen shop open, and the two hungry men amazed 
the proprietor by nearly buying out his stock. 

It was after ten o'clock when Riley and Bok got back 
to the house with their load of provisions to find every 
door locked, every curtain drawn, and the bolt sprung 
on every window. Only the cellar grating remained, 
and through this the two dropped their bundles and 
themselves, and appeared in the dining-room, dirty 
and dishevelled, to find the party at table enjoying a 
supper which Field had carefully hidden and brought 
out when they had left the house. 

Riley, cold and hungry, and before this time the vic- 
tim of Field's practical jokes, was not in a merry humor 
and began to recite paraphrases of Field's poems. 
Field retorted by paraphrasing Riley's poems, and 
mimicking the marked characteristics of Riley's speech. 
This started Sol Smith Russell, who mimicked both. 
The fun grew fast and furious, the entire company now 
took part, Mrs. Field's dresses were laid under contri- 
bution, and Field, Russell, and Riley gave an impromptu 
play. And it was upon this scene that Mrs. Field, after 
a continuous ringing of the door-bell and nearly battering 



1 84 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

down the door, appeared at seven o'clock the next 
morning ! 

It was fortunate that Eugene Field had a patient wife; 
she needed every ounce of patience that she could com- 
mand. And no one realized this more keenly than did 
her husband. He once told of a dream he had which 
illustrated the endurance of his wife. 

"I thought," said Field, "that I had died and gone 
to heaven. I had some difficulty in getting past St. 
Peter, who regarded me with doubt and suspicion, and 
examined my records closely, but finally permitted me 
to enter the pearly gates. As I walked up the street of 
the heavenly city, I saw a venerable old man with long 
gray hair and flowing beard. His benignant face en- 
couraged me to address him. ' I have just arrived and 
I am entirely unacquainted/ I said. 'May I ask your 
name ? ' 

"'My name/ he replied, 4s Job/ 

"'Indeed/ I exclaimed, 'are you that Job whom we 
were taught to revere as the most patient being in the 
world?' 

"'The same/ he said, with a shadow of hesitation; 
'I did have quite a reputation for patience once, but I 
hear that there is a woman now on earth, in Chicago, who 
has suffered more than I ever did, and she has endured 
it with great resignation.' 

"'Why/ said I, 'that is curious. I am just from 
earth, and from Chicago, and I do not remember to 
have heard of her case. What is her name ? ' 

"'Mrs. Eugene Field/ was the reply. 

"Just then I awoke/' ended Field. 



EUGENE FIELD'S PRACTICAL JOKES 185 

The success of Field's paragraph engaging Bok to 
Miss Pinkham stimulated the poet to greater effort. 
Bok had gone to Europe; Field, having found out the 
date of his probable return, just about when the steamer 
was due, printed an interview with the editor "at 
quarantine' ' which sounded so plausible that even the 
men in Bok's office in Philadelphia were fooled and pre- 
pared for his arrival. The interview recounted, in 
detail, the changes in women's fashions in Paris, and so 
plausible had Field made it, based upon information 
obtained at Marshall Field's, that even the fashion 
papers copied it. 

All this delighted Field beyond measure. Bok begged 
him to desist; but Field answered by printing an item 
to the effect that there was the highest authority for 
denying "the reports industriously circulated some 
time ago to the effect that Mr. Bok was engaged to be 
married to a New England young lady, whereas, as a 
matter of fact, it is no violation of friendly confidence 
that makes it possible to announce that the Philadelphia 
editor is engaged to Mrs. Frank Leslie, of New York." 

It so happened that Field put this new paragraph on 
the wire just about the time that Bok's actual engage- 
ment was announced. Field was now deeply contrite, 
and sincerely promised Bok and his fiancee to reform. 
"I'm through, you mooning, spooning calf, you," he 
wrote Bok, and his friend believed him, only to receive 
a telegram the next day from Mrs. Field warning him 
that "Gene is planning a series of telephonic conversa- 
tions with you and Miss Curtis at college that I think 
should not be printed." Bok knew it was of no use 



1 86 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

trying to curb Field's industry, and so he wired the 
editor of the Chicago News for his cooperation. Field, 
now checked, asked Bok and his fiancee and the parents 
of both to come to Chicago, be his guests for the World's 
Fair, and "let me make amends." 

It was a happy visit. Field was all kindness, and, of 
course, the entire party was charmed by his personality. 
But the boy in him could not be repressed. He had kept 
it down all through the visit. "No, not a joke — cross 
my heart," he would say, and then he invited the party 
to lunch with him on their way to the train when they 
were leaving for home. "But we shall be in our trav- 
elling clothes, not dressed for a luncheon," protested 
the women. It was an unfortunate protest, for it gave 
Field an idea! "Oh," he assured them, "just a good- 
bye luncheon at the club; just you folks and Julia and 
me." They believed him, only to find upon their ar- 
rival at the club an assembly of over sixty guests at one 
of the most elaborate luncheons ever served in Chicago, 
with each woman guest carefully enjoined by Field, 
in his invitation, to "put on her prettiest and most 
elaborate costume in order to dress up the table ! " 

One day Field came to Philadelphia to give a reading 
in Camden in conjunction with George W. Cable. It 
chanced that his friend, Francis Wilson, was opening 
that same evening in Philadelphia in a new comic opera 
which Field had not seen. He immediately refused to 
give his reading, and insisted upon going to the theatre. 
The combined efforts of his manager, Wilson, Mr. 
Cable, and his friends finally persuaded him to keep his 
engagement and join in a double-box party later at the 



EUGENE FIELD'S PRACTICAL JOKES 187 

theatre. To make sure that he would keep his lecture 
appointment, Bok decided to go to Camden with him. 
Field and Cable were to appear alternately. 

Field went on for his first number; and when he came 
off, he turned to Bok and said: "No use, Bok, I'm a sick 
man. I must go home. Cable can see this through," 
and despite every protestation Field bundled himself into 
his overcoat and made for his carriage. "Sick, Bok, 
really sick," he muttered as they rode along. Then 
seeing a fruit-stand he said: "Buy me a bag of oranges, 
like a good fellow. They'll do me good." 

When Philadelphia was reached, he suggested: "Do 
you know I think it would do me good to go and see 
Frank in the new play? Tell the driver to go to the 
theatre like a good boy." Of course, that had been his 
intent all along! When the theatre was reached he 
insisted upon taking the oranges with him. "They'll 
steal 'em if you leave 'em there," he said. 

Field lost all traces of his supposed illness the moment 
he reached the box. Francis Wilson was on the stage 
with Marie Jansen. "Isn't it beautiful?" said Field, 
and directing the attention of the party to the players, 
he reached under his chair for the bag of oranges, took one 
out, and was about to throw it at Wilson when Bok 
caught his arm, took the orange away from him, and 
grabbed the bag. Field never forgave Bok for this act 
of watchfulness. "Treason," he hissed — "going back 
on a friend." 

The one object of Field's ambition was to achieve the 
distinction of so "fussing" Francis Wilson that he 
would be compelled to ring down the curtain. He had 



1 88 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

tried every conceivable trick: had walked on the stage 
in one of Wilson's scenes; had started a quarrel with an 
usher in the audience — everything that ingenuity could 
conceive he had practised on his friend. Bok had known 
this penchant of Field's, and when he insisted on taking 
the bag of oranges into the theatre, Field's purpose was 
evident ! 

One day Bok received a wire from Field: "City of 
New Orleans purposing give me largest public reception 
on sixth ever given an author. Event of unusual 
quality. Mayor and city officials peculiarly desirous 
of having you introduce me to vast audience they pro- 
pose to have. Hate to ask you to travel so far, but 
would be great favor to me. Wire answer." Bok 
wired back his willingness to travel to New Orleans and 
oblige his friend. It occurred to Bok, however, to write 
to a friend in New Orleans and ask the particulars. Of 
course, there was never any thought of Field going to 
New Orleans or of any reception. Bok waited for further 
advices, and a long letter followed from Field giving him 
a glowing picture of the reception planned. Bok sent 
a message to his New Orleans friend to be telegraphed 
from New Orleans on the sixth: "Find whole thing to 
be a fake. Nice job to put over on me. Bok." Field 
was overjoyed at the apparent success of his joke and 
gleefully told his Chicago friends all about it — until 
he found out that the joke had been on him. "Durned 
dirty, I call it," he wrote Bok. 

It was a lively friendship that Eugene Field gave to 
Edward Bok, full of anxieties and of continuous fore- 
bodings, but it was worth all that it cost in mental per- 



EUGENE FIELD'S PRACTICAL JOKES 189 

turbation. No rarer friend ever lived: in his serious 
moments he gave one a quality of unforgetable friend- 
ship that remains a precious memory. But his desire 
for practical jokes was uncontrollable: it meant being 
constantly on one's guard, and even then the pranks 
could not always be thwarted ! 



CHAPTER XVIII 
BUILDING UP A MAGAZINE 

The newspaper paragraphers were now having a de- 
lightful time with Edward Bok and his woman's maga- 
zine, and he was having a delightful time with them. 
The editor's publicity sense made him realize how valua- 
ble for his purposes was all this free advertising. The 
paragraphers believed, in their hearts, that they were 
annoying the young editor; they tried to draw his fire 
through their articles. But he kept quiet, put his 
tongue in his cheek, and determined to give them some 
choice morsels for their wit. 

He conceived the idea of making familiar to the public 
the women who were back of the successful men of the 
day. He felt sure that his readers wanted to know 
about these women. But to attract his newspaper 
friends he labelled the series, "Unknown Wives of Well- 
Known Men" and "Clever Daughters of Clever Men." 

The alliterative titles at once attracted the para- 
graphers; they fell upon them like hungry trout, and 
a perfect fusillade of paragraphs began. This is exactly 
what the editor wanted; and he followed these two 
series immediately by inducing the daughter of Charles 
Dickens to write of "My Father as I Knew Him," and 
Mrs. Henry Ward Beecher, of "Mr. Beecher as I Knew 

Him." Bok now felt that he had given the newspapers 

190 



BUILDING UP A MAGAZINE 191 

enough ammunition to last for some time; and he turned 
his attention to building up a more permanent basis for 
his magazine. 

The two authors of that day who commanded more 
attention than any others were William Dean Howells 
and Rudyard Kipling. Bok knew that these two would 
give to his magazine the literary quality that it needed, 
and so he laid them both under contribution. He bought 
Mr. HowehVs new novel, "The Coast of Bohemia," 
and arranged that Kipling's new novelette upon which 
he was working should come to the magazine. Neither 
the public nor the magazine editors had expected Bok 
to break out along these more permanent lines, and 
magazine publishers began to realize that a new com- 
petitor had sprung up in Philadelphia. Bok knew they 
would feel this; so before he announced Mr. HowehVs 
new novel, he contracted with the novelist to follow this 
with his autobiography. This surprised the editors of 
the older magazines, for they realized that the Phila- 
delphia editor had completely tied up the leading novelist 
of the day for his next two years' output. 

Meanwhile, in order that the newspapers might be well 
supplied with barbs for their shafts, he published an 
entire number of his magazine written by famous daugh- 
ters of famous men. This unique issue presented con- 
tributions by the daughters of Charles Dickens, Na- 
thaniel Hawthorne, President Harrison, Horace Greeley, 
William M. Thackeray, William Dean Howells, General 
Sherman, Julia Ward Howe, Jefferson Davis, Mr. Glad- 
stone, and a score of others. This issue simply filled the 
paragraphers with glee. Then once more Bok turned to 



1 92 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

material calculated to cement the foundation for a more 
permanent structure. 

He noted, early in its progress, the gathering strength 
of the drift toward woman suffrage, and realized that 
the American woman was not prepared, in her knowl- 
edge of her country, to exercise the privilege of the bal- 
lot. Bok determined to supply the deficiency to his 
readers, and concluded to put under contract the 
President of the United States, Benjamin Harrison, the 
moment he left office, to write a series of articles explain- 
ing the United States. No man knew this subject 
better than the President; none could write better; and 
none would attract such general attention to his maga- 
zine, reasoned Bok. He sought the President, talked it 
over with him, and found him favorable to the idea. 
But the President was in doubt at that time whether 
he would be a candidate for another term, and frankly 
told Bok that he would be taking too much risk to wait 
for him. He suggested that the editor try to prevail 
upon his then secretary of state, James G. Blaine, to 
undertake the series, and offered to see Mr. Blaine and 
induce him to a favorable consideration. Bok acquiesced, 
and a few days afterward received from Mr. Blaine a 
request to come to Washington. 

Bok had had a previous experience with Mr. Blaine 
which had impressed him to an unusual degree. Many 
years before, he had called upon him at his hotel in New 
York, seeking his autograph, had been received, and as 
the statesman was writing his signature he said: "Your 
name is a familiar one to me. I have had corres- 
pondence with an Edward Bok who is secretary of 



BUILDING UP A MAGAZINE 193 

state for the Transvaal Republic. Are you related to 
Mm?" 

Bok explained that this was his uncle, and that he 
was named for him. 

Years afterward Bok happened to be at a public 
meeting where Mr. Blaine was speaking, and the states- 
man, seeing him, immediately called him by name. 
Bok knew of the reputed marvels of Mr. Blaine's mem- 
ory, but this proof of it amazed him. 

"It is simply inconceivable, Mr. Blaine," said Bok, 
"that you should remember my name after all these 
years." 

"Not at all, my boy," returned Mr. Blaine. "Mem- 
orizing is simply association. You associate a fact or 
an incident with a name and you remember the name. 
It never leaves you. The moment I saw you I remem- 
bered you told me that your uncle was secretary of 
state for the Transvaal. That at once brought your 
name to me. You see how simple a trick it is." 

But Bok did not see, since remembering the incident 
was to him an even greater feat of memory than recall- 
ing the name. It was a case of having to remember two 
things instead of one. 

At all events^ Bok was no stranger to James G. Blaine 
when he called upon him at his Lafayette Place home in 
Washington. 

"You've gone ahead in the world some since I last 
saw you," was the statesman's greeting. "It seems to 
go with the name." 

This naturally broke the ice for the editor at once. 

"Let's go to my library where we can talk quietly. 



194 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

What train are you making back to Philadelphia, by 
the way?" 

"The four, if I can," replied Bok. 

"Excuse me a moment," returned Mr. Blaine, and 
when he came back to the room, he said: "Now let's 
talk over this interesting proposition that the President 
has told me about." 

The two discussed the matter and completed arrange- 
ments whereby Mr. Blaine was to undertake the work. 
Toward the latter end of the talk, Bok had covertl} — as 
he thought — looked at his watch to keep track of his 
train. 

"It's all right about that train," came from Mr. 
Blaine, with his back toward Bok, writing some data of 
the talk at his desk. "You'll make it all right." 

Bok wondered how he should, as it then lacked only 
seventeen minutes of four. But as Mr. Blaine reached 
the front door, he said to the editor: "My carriage is 
waiting at the curb to take you to the station, and the 
coachman has your seat in the parlor car." 

And with this knightly courtesy, Mr. Blaine shook 
hands with Bok, who was never again to see him, nor 
was the contract ever to be fulfilled. For early in 1893 
Mr. Blaine passed away without having begun the 
work. 

Again Bok turned to the President, and explained to 
him that, for some reason or other, the way seemed to 
point to him to write the articles himself. By that 
time President Harrison had decided that he would not 
succeed himself. Accordingly he entered into an agree- 
ment with the editor to begin to write the articles im- 



BUILDING UP A MAGAZINE 195 

mediately upon his retirement from office. And the day 
after Inauguration Day every newspaper contained an 
Associated Press despatch announcing the former Presi- 
dent's contract with The Ladies' Home Journal. 

Shortly afterward, Benjamin Harrison's articles on 
"This Country of Ours" successfully appeared in the 
magazine. 

During Bok's negotiations with President Harrison 
in connection with his series of articles, he was called 
to the White House for a conference. It was midsum- 
mer. Mrs. Harrison was away at the seashore, and the 
President was taking advantage of her absence by 
working far into the night. 

The President, his secretary, and Bok sat down to 
dinner. 

The Marine Band was giving its weekly concert on 
the green, and after dinner the President suggested that 
Bok and he adjourn to the "back lot" and enjoy the 
music. 

"You have a coat?" asked the President. 

"No, thank you," Bok answered. "I don't need 



one. 



"Not in other places, perhaps," he said, "but here 
you do. The dampness comes up from the Potomac at 
nightfall, and it's just as well to be careful. It's Mrs. 
Harrison's dictum," he added smiling. "Halford, send 
up for one of my light coats, will you, please?" 

Bok remarked, as he put on the President's coat, that 
this was probably about as near as he should ever get 
to the presidency. 

"Well, it's a question whether you want to get 



196 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

nearer to it," answered the President. He looked very 
white and tired in the moonlight. 

"Still," Bok said with a smile, "some folks seem to 
like it well enough to wish to get it a second time." 

"True," he answered, "but that's what pride will do 
for a man. Try one of these cigars." 

A cigar ! Bok had been taking his tobacco in smaller 
doses with paper around them. He had never smoked 
a cigar. Still, one cannot very well refuse a presi- 
dential cigar! 

"Thank you," Bok said as he took one from the Presi- 
dent's case. He looked at the cigar and remembered 
all he had read of Benjamin Harrison's black cigars. 
This one was black — inky black — and big. 

"Allow me," he heard the President suddenly say, as 
he handed him a blazing match. There was no escape. 
The aroma was delicious, but — Two or three whiffs 
of that cigar, and Bok decided the best thing to do was 
to let it go out. He did. 

"I have allowed you to talk so much," said the Presi- 
dent after a while, "that you haven't had a chance to 
smoke. Allow me," and another match crackled into 
flame. 

"Thank you," the editor said, as once more he 
lighted the cigar, and the fumes went clear up into the 
farthest corner of his brain. 

"Take a fresh cigar," said the President after a 
while. "That doesn't seem to burn well. You will get 
one like that once in a while, although I am careful 
about my cigars." 

"No, thanks, Mr. President," Bok said hurriedly. 
"It's I, not the cigar." 



BUILDING UP A MAGAZINE 197 

"Well, prove it to me with another," was the quick 
rejoinder, as he held out his case, and in another min- 
ute a match again crackled. "There is only one thing 
worse than a bad smoke, and that is an office-seeker," 
chuckled the President. 

Bok couldn't prove that the cigars were bad, naturally. 
So smoke that cigar he did, to the bitter end, and it was 
bitter! In fifteen minutes his head and stomach were 
each whirling around, and no more welcome words had 
Bok ever heard than when the President said: "Well, 
suppose we go in. Halford and I have a day's work 
ahead of us yet." 

The President went to work. 

Bok went to bed. He could not get there quick enough, 
and he didn't — that is, not before he had experienced 
that same sensation of which Oliver Wendell Holmes 
wrote: he never could understand, he said, why young 
authors found so much trouble in getting into the 
magazines, for his first trip to Europe was not a day old 
before, without even the slightest desire or wish on his 
part, he became a contributor to the Atlantic ! 

The next day, and for days after, Bok smelled, tasted, 
and felt that presidential cigar ! 

A few weeks afterward, Bok was talking after dinner 
with the President at a hotel in New York, when once 
more the cigar-case came out and was handed to Bok. 

"No, thank you, Mr. President," was the instant re- 
ply, as visions of his night in the White House came back 
to him. "I am like the man from the West who was 
willing to try anything once." 

And he told the President the story of the White 
House cigar. 



198 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

The editor decided to follow General Harrison's dis- 
cussion of American affairs by giving his readers a 
glimpse of foreign politics, and he fixed upon Mr. Glad- 
stone as the one figure abroad to write for him. He 
sailed for England, visited Hawarden Castle, and pro- 
posed to Mr. Gladstone that he should write a series of 
twelve autobiographical articles which later could be 
expanded into a book. 

Bok offered fifteen thousand dollars for the twelve 
articles — a goodly price in those days — and he saw that 
the idea and the terms attracted the English statesman. 
But he also saw that the statesman was not quite ready. 
He decided, therefore, to leave the matter with him, 
and keep the avenue of approach favorably open by 
inducing Mrs. Gladstone to write for him. Bok knew 
that Mrs. Gladstone had helped her husband in his 
literary work, that she was a woman who had lived a 
full-rounded life, and after a day's visit and persuasion, 
with Mr. Gladstone as an amused looker-on, the editor 
closed a contract with Mrs. Gladstone for a series of 
reminiscent articles "From a Mother's Life." 

Some time after Bok had sent the check to Mrs. 
Gladstone, he received a letter from Mr. Gladstone 
expressing the opinion that his wife must have written 
with a golden pen, considering the size of the honorarium. 
"But," he added, "she is so impressed with this as the 
first money she has ever earned by her pen that she is 
reluctant to part with the check. The result is that she 
has not offered it for deposit, and has decided to frame 
it. Considering the condition of our exchequer, I 
have tried to explain to her, and so have my son and 



BUILDING UP A MAGAZINE 199 

daughter, that if she were to present the check for pay- 
ment and allow it to pass through the bank, the check 
would come back to you and that I am sure your com- 
pany would return it to her as a souvenir of the momen- 
tous occasion. Our arguments are of no avail, however, 
and it occurred to me that an assurance from you might 
make the check more useful than it is at present I" 

Bok saw with this disposition that, as he had hoped, 
the avenue of favorable approach to Mr. Gladstone had 
been kept open. The next summer Bok again visited 
Hawarden, where he found the statesman absorbed in 
writing a life of Bishop Butler, from which it was diffi- 
cult for him to turn away. He explained that it would 
take at least a year or two to finish this work. Bok saw, 
of course, his advantage, and closed a contract with the 
English statesman whereby he was to write the twelve 
autobiographical articles immediately upon his com- 
pletion of the work then under his hand. 

Here again, however, as in the case of Mr. Blaine, 
the contract was never fulfilled, for Mr. Gladstone passed 
away before he could free his mind and begin on the 
work. 

The vicissitudes of an editor's life were certainly be- 
ginning to demonstrate themselves to Edward Bok. 

The material that the editor was publishing and the 
authors that he was laying under contribution began to 
have marked effect upon the circulation of the magazine, 
and it was not long before the original figures were 
doubled, an edition — enormous for that day — of seven 
hundred and fifty thousand copies was printed and sold 
each month, the magical figure of a million was in sight, 



200 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

and the periodical was rapidly taking its place as one of 
the largest successes of the day. 

Mr. Curtis's single proprietorship of the magazine had 
been changed into a corporation called The Curtis 
Publishing Company, with a capital of. five hundred 
thousand dollars, with Mr. Curtis as president, and 
Bok as vice-president. 

The magazine had by no means an easy road to 
travel financially. The doubling of the subscription 
price to one dollar per year had materially checked 
the income for the time being; the huge advertising 
bills, sometimes exceeding three hundred thousand dol- 
lars a year, were difficult to pay; large credit had to be 
obtained, and the banks were carrying a considerable 
quantity of Mr. Curtis's notes. But Mr. Curtis never 
wavered in his faith in his proposition and his editor. 
In the first he invested all he had and could borrow, and 
to the latter he gave his undivided support. The two 
men worked together rather as father and son — as, 
curiously enough, they were to be later — than as em- 
ployer and employee. To Bok, the daily experience of 
seeing Mr. Curtis finance his proposition in sums that 
made the publishing world of that day gasp with scep- 
tical astonishment was a wonderful opportunity, of 
which the editor took full advantage so as to learn the 
intricacies of a world which up to that time he had 
known only in a limited way. 

What attracted Bok immensely to Mr. Curtis's 
methods was their perfect simplicity and directness. 
He believed absolutely in the final outcome of his prop- 
osition: where others saw mist and failure ahead, he 



BUILDING UP A MAGAZINE 201 

saw clear weather and the port of success. Never did 
he waver: never did he deflect from his course. He 
knew no path save the direct one that led straight to 
success, and, through his eyes, he made Bok see it with 
equal clarity until Bok wondered why others could not 
see it. But they could not. Cyrus Curtis would never 
be able, they said, to come out from under the load he 
had piled up. Where they differed from Mr. Curtis 
was in their lack of vision: they could not see what he 
saw! 

It has been said that Mr. Curtis banished patent- 
medicine advertisements from his magazine only when 
he could afford to do so. That is not true, as a simple 
incident will show. In the early days, he and Bok were 
opening the mail one Friday full of anxiety because the 
pay-roll was due that evening, and there was not enough 
money in the bank to meet it. From one of the letters 
dropped a certified check for five figures for a contract 
equal to five pages in the magazine. It was a welcome 
sight, for it meant an easy meeting of the pay-roll for 
that week and two succeeding weeks. But the check 
was from a manufacturing patent-medicine company. 
Without a moment's hesitation, Mr. Curtis slipped it 
back into the envelope, saying: "Of course, that we 
can't take." He returned the check, never gave the 
matter a second thought, and went out and borrowed 
more money to meet his pay-roll ! 

With all respect to American publishers, there are 
very few who could have done this — or indeed, would 
do it to-day, under similar conditions — particularly in 
that day when it was the custom for all magazines to 



202 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

accept patent-medicine advertising; The Ladies' Home 
Journal was practically the only publication of standing 
in the United States refusing that class of business ! 

Bok now saw advertising done on a large scale by a 
man who believed in plenty of white space surrounding 
the announcement in the advertisement. He paid Mr. 
Howells $10,000 for his autobiography, and Mr. Curtis 
spent $50,000 in advertising it. "It is not expense," 
he would explain to Bok, "it is investment. We are 
investing in a trade-mark. It will all come back in 
time." And when the first $100,000 did not come back 
as Mr. Curtis figured, he would send another $100,000 
after it, and then both came back. 

Bok's experience in advertisement writing was now to 
stand him in excellent stead. He wrote all the adver- 
tisements and from that day to the day of his retire- 
ment, practically every advertisement of the magazine 
was written by him. 

Mr. Curtis believed that the editor should write the 
advertisements of a magazine's articles. "You are the 
one who knows them, what is in them and your purpose/ ' 
he said to Bok, who keenly enjoyed this advertisement 
writing. He put less and less in his advertisements. 
Mr. Curtis made them larger and larger in the space 
which they occupied in the media used. In this way 
The Ladies' Home Journal advertisements became dis- 
tinctive for their use of white space, and as the adver- 
tising world began to say: "You can't miss them." Only 
one feature was advertised at one time, but the "fea- 
ture" was always carefully selected for its wide popular 
appeal, and then Mr. Curtis spared no expense to 



BUILDING UP A MAGAZINE 203 

advertise it abundantly. As much as $400,000 was 
spent in one year in advertising only a few features — 
a gigantic sum in those days, approached by no other 
periodical. But Mr. Curtis believed in showing the 
advertising world that he was willing to take his own 
medicine. 

Naturally, such a campaign of publicity announcing 
the most popular attractions offered by any magazine 
of the day had but one effect: the circulation leaped 
forward by bounds, and the advertising columns of the 
magazine rapidly filled up. 

The success of The Ladies' Home Journal began to 
look like an assured fact, even to the most sceptical. 

As a matter of fact, it was only at its beginning, as 
both publisher and editor knew. But they desired to 
fill the particular field of the magazine so quickly and 
fully that there would be small room for competition. 
The woman's magazine field was to belong to them ! 



CHAPTER XIX 
PERSONALITY LETTERS 

Edward Bok was always interested in the manner 
in which personality was expressed in letters. For this 
reason he adopted, as a boy, the method of collecting 
not mere autographs, but letters characteristic of their 
writers which should give interesting insight into the 
most famous men and women of the day. He secured 
what were really personality letters. 

One of these writers was Mark Twain. The humorist 
was not kindly disposed toward autograph collectors, 
and the fact that in this case the collector aimed to 
raise the standard of the hobby did not appease him. 
Still, it brought forth a characteristic letter: 

I hope I shall not offend you; I shall certainly say nothing 
with the intention to offend you. I must explain myself, 
however, and I will do it as kindly as I can. What you 
ask me to do, I am asked to do as often as one-half dozen 
times a week. Three hundred letters a year ! One's impulse 
is to freely consent, but one's time and necessary occupations 
will not permit it. There is no way but to decline in all 
cases, making no exceptions, and I wish to call your attention 
to a thing which has probably not occurred to you, and that 
is this: that no man takes pleasure in exercising his trade as a 
pastime. Writing is my trade, and I exercise it only when I 
am obliged to. You might make your request of a doctor, 
or a builder, or a sculptor, and there would be no impropriety 
in it, but if you asked either of those for a specimen of his 

204 



PERSONALITY LETTERS 205 

trade, his handiwork, he would be justified in rising to a point 
of order. It would never be fair to ask a doctor for one of 
his corpses to remember him by. Mark Twain 

At another time, after an interesting talk with Mark 
Twain, Bok wrote an account of the interview, with the 
humorist's permission. Desirous that the published 
account should be in every respect accurate, the manu- 
script was forwarded to Mark Twain for his approval. 
This resulted in the following interesting letter: 

My Dear Mr. Bok: 

No, no — it is like most interviews, pure twaddle, and value- 
less. 

For several quite plain and simple reasons, an " interview" 
must, as a rule, be an absurdity. And chiefly for this reason: 
it is an attempt to use a boat on land, or a wagon on water, 
to speak figuratively. Spoken speech is one thing, written 
speech is quite another. Print is a proper vehicle for the 
latter, but it isn't for the former. The moment "talk" is 
put into print you recognize that it is not what it was when you 
heard it; you perceive that an immense something has dis- 
appeared from it. That is its soul. You have nothing but 
a dead carcass left on your hands. Color, play of feature, 
the varying modulations of voice, the laugh, the smile, the 
informing inflections, everything that gave that body warmth, 
grace, friendliness, and charm, and commended it to your 
affection, or at least to your tolerance, is gone, and nothing 
is left, but a pallid, stiff and repulsive cadaver. 

Such is "talk," almost invariably, as you see it lying in 
state in an "interview." The interviewer seldom tries to 
tell one how a thing was said; he merely puts in the naked 
remark, and stops there. When one writes for print, his 
methods are very different. He follows forms which have 
but little resemblance to conversation, but they make the 



206 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

reader understand what the writer is trying to convey. And 
when the writer is making a story, and finds it necessary to 
report some of the talk of his characters, observe how cau- 
tiously and anxiously he goes at that risky and difficult thing: 

"If he had dared to say that thing in my presence," said 
Alfred, taking a mock heroic attitude, and casting an arch 
glance upon the company, "blood would have flowed." 

"If he had dared to say that thing in my presence," said 
Hawkwood, with that in his eye which caused more than one 
heart in that guilty assemblage to quake, "blood would have 
flowed." 

"If he had dared to say that thing in my presence," said 
the paltry blusterer, with valor on his tongue and pallor on 
his lips, "blood would have flowed." 

So painfully aware is the novelist that naked talk in print 
conveys no meaning, that he loads, and often overloads, al- 
most every utterance of his characters with explanations and 
interpretations. It is a loud confession that print is a poor 
vehicle for "talk," it is a recognition that uninterpreted talk 
in print would result in confusion to the reader, not instruc- 
tion. 

Now, in your interview you have certainly been most 
accurate, you have set down the sentences I uttered as I said 
them. But you have not a word of explanation; what my 
manner was at several points is not indicated. Therefore, 
no reader can possibly know where I was in earnest and where 
I was joking; or whether I was joking altogether or in earnest 
altogether. Such a report of a conversation has no value. 
It can convey many meanings to the reader, but never the 
right one. To add interpretations which would convey the 
right meaning is a something which would require — what? 
An art so high and fine and difficult that no possessor of it 
would ever be allowed to waste it on interviews. 

No; spare the reader and spare me; leave the whole inter- 
view out; it is rubbish. I wouldn't talk in my sleep if I 
couldn't talk better than that. 



PERSONALITY LETTERS 207 

If you wish to print anything print this letter; it may have 
some value, for it may explain to a reader here and there 
why it is that in interviews as a rule men seem to talk like 
anybody but themselves. 

Sincerely yours, 

Mark Twain, 

The Harpers had asked Bok to write a book descrip- 
tive of his autograph-letter collection, and he had con- 
sented. The propitious moment, however, never came 
in his busy life. One day he mentioned the fact to 
Doctor Oliver Wendell Holmes and the poet said: 
"Let me write the introduction for it." Bok, of course, 
eagerly accepted, and within a few days he received the 
following, which, with the book, never reached publica- 
tion: 

How many autograph writers have had occasion to say 
with the Scotch trespasser climbing his neighbor's wall, when 
asked where he was going 

Bok again ! 

Edward Bok has persevered like the widow in scripture, 
and the most obdurate subjects of his quest have found 
it for their interest to give in, lest by his continual coming he 
should weary them. We forgive him; almost admire him for 
his pertinacity; only let him have no imitators. The tax he 
has levied must not be imposed a second time. 

An autograph of a distinguished personage means more to 
an imaginative person than a prosaic looker-on dreams of. 
Along these lines ran the consciousness and the guiding will of 
Napoleon, or Washington, of Milton or Goethe. His breath 
warmed the sheet of paper which you have before you. The 
microscope will show you the trail of flattened particles left 
by the tesselated epidermis of his hand as it swept along the 
manuscript. Nay, if we had but the right developing fluid 



208 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

to flow over it, the surface of the sheet would offer you his 
photograph as the light pictured it at the instant of writing. 

Look at Mr. Bok's collection with such thoughts, . . . and 
you will cease to wonder at his pertinacity and applaud the 
conquests of his enthusiasm. 

Oliver Wendell Holmes. 

Whenever biographers of the New England school of 
writers have come to write of John Greenleaf Whittier, 
they have been puzzled as to the scanty number of let- 
ters and private papers left by the poet. This letter, 
written to Bok, in comment upon a report that the poet 
had burned all his letters, is illuminating: 

Dear Friend: 

The report concerning the burning of my letters is only 
true so far as this: some years ago I destroyed a large col- 
lection of letters I had received not from any regard to my 
own reputation, but from the fear that to leave them liable to 
publicity might be injurious or unpleasant to the writers or 
their friends. They covered much of the anti-slavery period 
and the War of the Rebellion, and many of them I knew were 
strictly private and confidential. I was not able at the time 
to look over the MS. and thought it safest to make a bonfire 
of it all. I have always regarded a private and confidential 
letter as sacred and its publicity in any shape a shameful 
breach of trust, unless authorized by the writer. I only 
wish my own letters to thousands of correspondents may be 
as carefully disposed of. 

You may use this letter as you think wise and best. 

Very truly thy friend, 

John G. Whittier. 

Once in a while a bit of untold history crept into a 
letter sent to Bok; as for example in the letter, referred 



PERSONALITY LETTERS 209 

to in a previous chapter from General Jubal A. Early, 
the Confederate general, in which he gave an explana- 
tion, never before fully given, of his reasons for the 
burning of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania: 

The town of Chambersburg was burned on the same day 
on which the demand on it was made by McCausland and 
refused. It was ascertained that a force of the enemy's 
cavalry was approaching, and there was no time for delay. 
Moreover, the refusal was peremptory, and there was no rea- 
son for delay unless the demand was a mere idle threat. 

I had no knowledge of what amount of money there might 
be in Chambersburg. I knew that it was a town of some 
twelve thousand inhabitants. The town of Frederick, in 
Maryland, which was a much smaller town than Chambers- 
burg, had in June very promptly responded to my demand 
on it for $200,000, some of the inhabitants, who were friendly 
to me, expressing a regret that I had not made it $500,000. 
There were one or more National Banks at Chambersburg, 
and the town ought to have been able to raise the sum I 
demanded. I never heard that the refusal was based on the 
inability to pay such a sum, and there was no offer to pay any 
sum. The value of the houses destroyed by Hunter, with 
their contents, was fully $100,000 in gold, and at the time I 
made the demand the price of gold in greenbacks had very 
nearly reached $3.00 and was going up rapidly. Hence it 
was that I required the $500,000 in greenbacks, if the gold was 
not paid, to provide against any further depreciation of the 
paper money. 

I would have been fully justified by the laws of retaliation 
in war in burning the town without giving the inhabitants the 
opportunity of redeeming it. TAT 

Bok wrote to Eugene Field, once, asking him why in 
all his verse he had never written any love-songs, and 



210 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

suggesting that the story of Jacob and Rachel would 
have made a theme for a beautiful love-poem. Field's 
reply is interesting and characteristic, and throws a 
light on an omission in his works at which many have 
wondered : 

Dear Bok: 

I'll see what I can do with the suggestion as to Jacob and 
Rachel. Several have asked me why I have never written 
any love-songs. That is hard to answer. I presume it is 
because I married so young. I was married at twenty- three, 
and did not begin to write until I was twenty-nine. Most 
of my lullabies are, in a sense, love-songs; so is "To a 
Usurper," "A Valentine," "The Little Bit of a Woman," 
"Lovers' Lane," etc., but not the kind commonly called love- 
songs. I am sending you herewith my first love-song, and 
even into it has crept a cadence that makes it a love-song of 
maturity rather than of youth. I do not know that you will 
care to have it, but it will interest you as the first. . , . 

Ever sincerely yours, 

Eugene Field. 

During the last years of his life, Bok tried to interest 
Benjamin Harrison, former President of the United 
States, in golf, since his physician had ordered "moder- 
ate outdoor exercise." Bok offered to equip him with 
the necessary clubs and balls. When he received the 
balls, the ex-president wrote: 

"Thanks. But does not a bottle of liniment go with 
each ball?" 

When William Howard Taft became President of the 
United States, the impression was given out that jour- 
nalists would not be so welcome at the White House as 
they had been during the administration of President 



PERSONALITY LETTERS 211 

Roosevelt. Mr. Taft, writing to Bok about another 
matter, asked why he had not called and talked it over 
while in Washington. Bok explained the impression 
that was current; whereupon came the answer, swift 
and definite ! 

There are no persona non grata at the White House. I 
long ago learned the waste of time in maintaining such a class. 

There was in circulation during Henry Ward Beecher's 
lifetime a story, which is still revived every now and 
then, that on a hot Sunday morning in early summer, 
he began his sermon in Plymouth Church by declaring 
that " It is too damned hot to preach. " Bok wrote to the 
great preacher, asked him the truth of this report, and 
received this definite denial: 

My Dear Friend: 

No, I never did begin a sermon with the remark that "it 

is d — d hot," etc. It is a story a hundred years old, revamped 

every few years to suit some new man. When I am dead 

and gone, it will be told to the rising generation respecting 

some other man, and then, as now, there will be fools who will 

swear that they heard it ! TT T , T „ 

J Henry Ward Beecher. 

When Bok's father passed away, he left, among his 
effects, a large number of Confederate bonds. Bok 
wrote to Jefferson Davis, asking if they had any value, 
and received this characteristic answer: 

I regret my inability to give an opinion. The theory of 
the Confederate Government, like that of the United States, 
was to separate the sword from the purse. Therefore, the 
Confederate States Treasury was under the control not of 



212 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

the Chief Executive, but of the Congress and the Secretary 
of the Treasury. This may explain my want of special in- 
formation in regard to the Confederate States Bonds. Gen- 
erally, I may state that the Confederate Government cannot 
have preserved a fund for the redemption of its Bonds other 
than the cotton subscribed by our citizens for that purpose. 
At the termination of the War, the United States Government, 
claiming to be the successor of the Confederate Government, 
seized all its property which could be found, both at home and 
abroad. I have not heard of any purpose to apply these 
assets to the payment of the liabilities of the Confederacy, 
and, therefore, have been at a loss to account for the demand 
which has lately been made for the Confederate Bonds. 

Jefferson Davis. 

Always the soul of courtesy itself, and most obliging 
in granting the numerous requests which came to him 
for his autograph, William Dean Howells finally turned; 
and Bok always considered himself fortunate that the 
novelist announced his decision to him in the following 
characteristic letter: 

The requests for my autograph have of late become so bur- 
densome that I am obliged either to refuse all or to make 
some sort of limitation. Every author must have an uneasy 
fear that his signature is " collected " at times like postage- 
stamps, and at times " traded" among the collectors for other 
signatures. That would not matter so much if the appli- 
cants were always able to spell his name, or were apparently 
acquainted with his work or interested in it. 

I propose, therefore, to give my name hereafter only to 
such askers as can furnish me proof by intelligent comment 
upon it that they have read some book of mine. If they can 
inclose a bookseller's certificate that they have bought the 
book, their case will be very much strengthened; but I do not 



PERSONALITY LETTERS 213 

insist upon this. In all instances a card and a stamped and 

directed envelope must be inclosed. I will never "add a 

sentiment" except in the case of applicants who can give me 

proof that they have read all my books, now some thirty or 

forty in number. 

J W. D. Howells. 

It need hardly be added that Mr. Howells's good 
nature prevented his adherence to his rule ! 

Rudyard Kipling is another whose letters fairly vi- 
brate with personality; few men can write more inter- 
estingly, or, incidentally, considering his microscopic 
handwriting, say more on a letter page. 

Bok was telling Kipling one day about the scrapple 
so dear to the heart of the Philadelphian as a breakfast 
dish. The author had never heard of it or tasted it, 
and wished for a sample. So, upon his return home, 
Bok had a Philadelphia market-man send some of the 
Philadelphia-made article, packed in ice, to Kipling 
in his English home. There were several pounds of it 
and Kipling wrote : 

By the way, that scrapple — which by token is a dish for 
the Gods — arrived in perfect condition, and I ate it all, or as 
much as I could get hold of. I am extremely grateful for it. 
It's all nonsense about pig being unwholesome. There isn't 
a Mary-ache in a barrel of scrapple. 

Then later came this afterthought: 

A noble dish is that scrapple, but don't eat three slices and 
go to work straight on top of 'em. That's the way to dys- 
pepsia ! 

P. S. I wish to goodness you'd give another look at Eng- 
land before long. It's quite a country; really it is. Old, 
too, I believe. 



214 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

It was Kipling who suggested that Bok should name 
his Merion home " Swastika." Bok asked what the 
author knew about the mystic sign : 

There is a huge book (I've forgotten the name, but the 
Smithsonian will know), he wrote back, about the Swastika 
(pronounced Swas-ti-ka to rhyme with "car's ticker"), in 
literature, art, religion, dogma, etc. I believe there are two 
sorts of Swastikas, one ft and one S; one is bad, the other 
is good, but which is which I know not for sure. The Hindu 
trader opens his yearly account-books with a Swastika as "an 
auspicious beginning," and all the races of the earth have used 
it. It's an inexhaustible subject, and some man in the Smith- 
sonian ought to be full of it. Anyhow, the sign on the door 
or the hearth should protect you against fire and water and 
thieves. 

By this time should have reached you a Swastika door- 
knocker, which I hope may fit in with the new house and the 
new name. It was made by a village-smith; and you will 
see that it has my initials, to which I hope you will add yours, 
that the story may be complete. 

We are settled out here in Cape Town, eating strawberries 
in January and complaining of the heat, which for the last 
two days has been a little more than we pampered folk are 
used to; say 70 at night. But what a lovely land it is, and 
how superb are the hydrangeas ! Figure to yourself four acres 
of 'em, all in bloom on the hillside near our home ! 

Bok had visited the Panama Canal before its com- 
pletion and had talked with the men, high and low, 
working on it, asking them how they felt about President 
Roosevelt's action in " digging the Canal first and talk- 
ing about it afterwards." He wrote the result of his talks 
to Colonel Roosevelt, and received this reply: 



PERSONALITY LETTERS 215 

I shall always keep your letter, for I shall want my chil- 
dren and grandchildren to see it after I am gone. I feel just 
as you do about the Canal. It is the greatest contribution 
I was able to make to my country; and while I do not believe 
my countrymen appreciate this at the moment, I am extremely 
pleased to know that the men on the Canal do, for they are 
the men who have done and are doing the great job. I am 
awfully pleased that you feel the way you do. 

Theodore Roosevelt. 

In 1887, General William Tecumseh Sherman was 
much talked about as a candidate for the presidency, 
until his famous declaration came out: "I will not run if 
nominated, and will not serve if elected." During the 
weeks of talk, however, much was said of General Sher- 
man's religious views, some contending that he was a 
Roman Catholic; others that he was a Protestant. 

Bok wrote to General Sherman and asked him. His 
answer was direct: 

My family is strongly Roman Catholic, but I am not. 
Until I ask some favor the public has no claim to question me 
further. 

When Mrs. Sherman passed away, Doctor T. DeWitt 
Talmage wrote General Sherman a note of condolence, 
and what is perhaps one of the fullest expositions of his 
religious faith to which he ever gave expression came 
from him in a most remarkable letter, which Doctor 
Talmage gave to Bok. 

New York, December 12, 1886. 
My Dear Friend: 

Your most tender epistle from Mansfield, Ohio, of Decem- 
ber 9 brought here last night by your son awakens in my 



216 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

brain a flood of memories. Mrs. Sherman was by nature 
and inheritance an Irish Catholic. Her grandfather, Hugh 
Boyle, was a highly educated classical scholar, whom I re- 
member well, — married the half sister of the mother of James 
G. Blaine at Brownsville, Pa., settled in our native town Lan- 
caster, Fairfield County, Ohio, and became the Clerk of the 
County Court. He had two daughters, Maria and Susan. 
Maria became the wife of Thomas Ewing, about 1819, and 
was the mother of my wife, Ellen Boyle Ewing. She was so 
staunch to what she believed the true Faith that I am sure 
that though she loved her children better than herself, she 
would have seen them die with less pang, than to depart 
from the "Faith." Mr. Ewing was a great big man, an in- 
tellectual giant, and looked down on religion as something 
domestic, something consoling which ought to be encouraged; 
and to him it made little difference whether the religion was 
Methodist, Presbyterian, Baptist, or Catholic, provided the 
acts were "half as good" as their professions. 

In 1829 my father, a Judge of the Supreme Court of Ohio, 
died at Lebanon away from home, leaving his widow, Mary 
Hoyt of Norwalk, Conn, (sister to Charles and James Hoyt 
of Brooklyn) with a frame house in Lancaster, an income of 
$200 a year and eleven as hungry, rough, and uncouth chil- 
dren as ever existed on earth. But father had been kind, 
generous, manly, with a big heart; and when it ceased to beat 
friends turned up — Our Uncle Stoddard took Charles, the 
oldest; W. I. married the next, Elisabeth (still living); Amelia 
was soon married to a merchant in Mansfield, McCorab; I, 
the third son, was adopted by Thomas Ewing, a neighbor, and 
John fell to his namesake in Mt. Vernon, a merchant. 

Surely "Man proposes and God disposes." I could fill 
a hundred pages, but will not bore you. A half century 
has passed and you, a Protestant minister, write me a kind, 
affectionate letter about my Catholic wife from Mansfield, 
one of my family homes, where my mother, Mary Hoyt, 



PERSONALITY LETTERS 217 

died, and where our Grandmother, Betsey Stoddard, lies 
buried. Oh, what a flood of memories come up at the name 
of Betsey Stoddard, — daughter of the Revd. Mr. Stoddard, 
who preached three times every Sunday, and as often in be- 
tween as he could cajole a congregation at ancient Woodbury, 
Conn., — who came down from Mansfield to Lancaster, three 
days' hard journey to regulate the family of her son Judge 
Sherman, whose gentle wife was as afraid of Grandma as any of 
us boys. She never spared the rod or broom, but she had more 
square solid sense to the yard than any woman I ever saw. 
From her Charles, John, and I inherit what little sense we 
possess. 

Lancaster, Fairfield County, was our paternal home, 
Mansfield that of Grandmother Stoddard and her daughter, 
Betsey Parker. There Charles and John settled, and when 
in 1846 I went to California Mother also went there, and 
there died in 1851. 

When a boy, once a year I had to drive my mother in an 
old "dandy wagon" on her annual visit. The distance was 
75 miles, further than Omaha is from San Francisco. We 
always took three days and stopped at every house to gossip 
with the woman folks, and dispense medicines and syrups 
to the sick, for in those days all had the chills or ague. If I 
could I would not awaken Grandmother Betsey Stoddard 
because she would be horrified at the backsliding of the ser- 
vants of Christ, — but oh ! how I would like to take my mother, 
Mary Hoyt, in a railroad car out to California, to Santa Bar- 
bara and Los Angeles, among the vineyards of grapes, the 
groves of oranges, lemons and pomegranates. How clearly 
recurs to me the memory of her exclamation when I told her 
I had been ordered around Cape Horn to California. Her 
idea was about as definite as mine or yours as to, Where is 
Stanley? but she saw me return with some nuggets to make 
her life more comfortable. 

She was a strong Presbyterian to the end, but she loved my 



218 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

Ellen, and the love was mutual. All my children have in- 
herited their mother's faith, and she would have given any- 
thing if I would have simply said Amen; but it is simply 
impossible. 

But I am sure that you know that the God who created 
the minnow, and who has moulded the rose and carnation, 
given each its sweet fragrance, will provide for those mortal 
men who strive to do right in the world which he himself has 
stocked with birds, animals, and men; — at all events, I will 
trust Him with absolute confidence. 

With great respect and affection, 
Yours truly, 

W. T. Sherman. 



CHAPTER XX 
MEETING A REVERSE OR TWO 

With the hitherto unreached magazine circulation of 
a million copies a month in sight, Edward Bok de- 
cided to give a broader scope to the periodical. He 
was determined to lay under contribution not only the 
most famous writers of the day, but also to seek out those 
well-known persons who usually did not contribute to 
the magazines; always keeping in mind the popular 
appeal of his material, but likewise aiming constantly to 
widen its scope and gradually to lift its standard. 

Sailing again for England, he sought and secured the 
acquaintance of Rudyard Kipling, whose alert mind 
was at once keenly interested in what Bok was trying to 
do. He was willing to co-operate, with the result that 
Bok secured the author's new story, William the Con- 
queror. When Bok read the manuscript, he was de- 
lighted; he had for some time been reading Kipling's 
work with enthusiasm, and he saw at once that here 
was one of the author's best tales. 

At that time, Frances E. Willard had brought her 
agitation for temperance prominently before the public, 
and Bok had promised to aid her by eliminating from 
his magazine, so far as possible, all scenes which repre- 
sented alcoholic drinking. It was not an iron-clad rule, 
but, both from the principle fixed for his own life and in 

the interest of the thousands of young people who read 

219 



220 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

his magazine, he believed it would be better to minimize 
all incidents portraying alcoholic drinking or drunken- 
ness. Kipling's story depicted several such scenes; so 
when Bok sent the proofs he suggested that if Kipling 
could moderate some of these scenes, it would be more 
in line with the policy of the magazine. Bok did not 
make a special point of the matter, leaving it to Kip- 
ling's judgment to decide how far he could make such 
changes and preserve the atmosphere of his story. 

From this incident arose the widely published story 
that Bok cabled Kipling, asking permission to omit a 
certain drinking reference, and substitute something else, 
whereupon Kipling cabled back: "Substitute MelhVs 
Food." As a matter of fact (although it is a pity to kill 
such a clever story), no such cable was ever sent and 
no such reply ever received. As Kipling himself wrote 
to Bok: "No, I said nothing about MelhVs Food. 
I wish I had." An American author in London hap- 
pened to hear of the correspondence between the editor 
and the author, it appealed to his sense of humor, and 
the published story was the result. If it mattered, it is 
possible that Brander Matthews could accurately reveal 
the originator of the much-published yarn. 

From Kipling's house Bok went to Tunbridge Wells 
to visit Mary Anderson, the one-time popular American 
actress, who had married Antonio de Navarro and re- 
tired from the stage. A goodly number of editors had 
tried to induce the retired actress to write, just as a 
number of managers had tried to induce her to return 
to the stage. All had failed. But Bok never accepted 
the failure of others as a final decision for himself; and 



MEETING A REVERSE OR TWO 221 

after two or three visits, he persuaded Madame de Na- 
varro to write her reminiscences, which he published 
with marked success in the magazine. 

The editor was very desirous of securing something for 
his magazine that would delight children, and he hit 
upon the idea of trying to induce Lewis Carroll to write 
another Alice in Wonderland series. He was told by 
English friends that this would be difficult, since the 
author led a secluded life at Oxford and hardly ever 
admitted any one into his confidence. But B ok wanted 
to beard the lion in his den, and an Oxford graduate 
volunteered to introduce him to an Oxford don through 
whom, if it were at all possible, he could reach the au- 
thor. The journey to Oxford was made, and Bok was 
introduced to the don, who turned out to be no less a 
person than the original possessor of the highly colored 
vocabulary of the " White Rabbit' ' of the Alice stories. 

"Impossible/' immediately declared the don. "You 
couldn't persuade Dodgson to consider it." Bok, how- 
ever, persisted, and it so happened that the don liked 
what he called "American perseverance." 

"Well, come along," he said. "We'll beard the lion 
in his den, as you say, and see what happens. You know, 
of course, that it is the Reverend Charles L. Dodgson 
that we are going to see, and I must introduce you to that 
person, not to Lewis Carroll. He is a tutor in mathe- 
matics here, as you doubtless know; lives a rigidly se- 
cluded life; dislikes strangers; makes no friends; and 
yet withal is one of the most delightful men in the world 
if he wants to be." 

But as it happened upon this special occasion when 






222 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

Bok was introduced to him in his chambers in Tom 
Quad, Mr. Dodgson did not "want to be" delightful. 
There was no doubt that back of the studied reserve 
was a kindly, charming, gracious gentleman, but Bok's 
profession had been mentioned and the author was on 
rigid guard. 

When Bok explained that one of the special reasons 
for his journey from America this summer was to see 
him, the Oxford mathematician sufficiently softened to 
ask the editor to sit down. Bok then broached his 
mission. 

"You are quite in error, Mr. Bok," was the Dodgson 
comment. "You are not speaking to the person you 
think you are addressing." 

For a moment Bok was taken aback. Then he de- 
cided to go right to the point. 

"Do I understand, Mr. Dodgson, that you are not 
'Lewis Carroll'; that you did not write Alice in Wonder- 
land?" 

For an answer the tutor rose, went into another room, 
and returned with a book which he handed to Bok* 
"This is my book," he said simply. It was entitled An 
Elementary Treatise on Determinants, by C. L. Dodgson. 
When he looked up, Bok found the author's eyes riveted 
on him. 

"Yes/' said Bok. "I know, Mr. Dodgson. If I re- 
member correctly, this is the same book of which you 
sent a copy to Her Majesty, Queen Victoria, when she 
wrote to you for a personal copy of your Alice" 

Dodgson made no comment. The face was abso- 
lutely without expression save a kindly compassion in- 



MEETING A REVERSE OR TWO 223 

tended to convey to the editor that he was making a 
terrible mistake. 

"As I said to you in the beginning, Mr. Bok, you are 
in error. You are not speaking to ' Lewis Carroll.'" 
And then: "Is this the first time you have visited Ox- 
ford?" 

Bok said it was; and there followed the most delight- 
ful two hours with the Oxford mathematician and the 
Oxford don, walking about and into the wonderful col- 
lege buildings, and afterward the three had a bite of 
lunch together. But all efforts to return to "Lewis 
Carroll" were futile. While saying good-by to his 
host, Bok remarked: 

"I can't help expressing my disappointment, Mr. 
Dodgson, in my quest in behalf of the thousands of 
American children who love you and who would so 
gladly welcome 'Lewis Carroll ' back." 

The mention of children and their love for him mo- 
mentarily had its effect. For an instant a different 
light came into the eyes, and Bok instinctively realized 
Dodgson was about to say something. But he checked 
himself. Bok had almost caught him off his guard. 

"I am sorry," he finally said at the parting at the 
door, "that you should be disappointed, for the sake of 
the children as well as for your own sake. I only regret 
that I cannot remove the disappointment." 

And as the trio walked to the station, the don said: 
"That is his attitude toward all, even toward me. He 
is not ' Lewis Carroll ■ to any one; is extremely sensitive 
on the point, and will not acknowledge his identity. 
That is why he lives so much to himself. He is in daily 



224 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

dread that some one will mention Alice in his presence. 
Curious, but there it is." 

Edward Bok's next quest was to be even more disap- 
pointing; he was never even to reach the presence of the 
person he sought. This was Florence Nightingale, the 
Crimean nurse. Bok was desirous of securing her own 
story of her experiences, but on every hand he found an 
unwillingness even to take him to her house. "No 
use," said everybody. "She won't see any one. Hates 
publicity and all that sort of thing, and shuns the pub- 
lic." Nevertheless, the editor journeyed to the famous 
nurse's home on South Street, in the West End of Lon- 
don, only to be told that "Miss Nightingale never re- 
ceives strangers." 

"But I am not a stranger," insisted the editor. "I 
am one of her friends from America. Please take my 
card to her." 

This mollified the faithful secretary, but the word 
instantly came back that Miss Nightingale was not re- 
ceiving any one that day. Bok wrote her a letter asking 
for an appointment, which was never answered. Then 
he wrote another, took it personally to the house, and 
awaited an answer, only to receive the message that 
"Miss Nightingale says there is no answer ta the let- 
ter." 

Bok had with such remarkable uniformity secured 
whatever he sought, that these experiences were new 
to him. Frankly, they puzzled him. He was not easily 
baffled, but baffled he now was, and that twice in suc- 
cession. Turn as he might, he could find no way in 
which to reopen an approach to either the Oxford tutor 



MEETING A REVERSE OR TWO 225 

or the Crimean nurse. They were plainly too much for 
him, and he had to acknowledge his defeat. The experi- 
ence was good for him; he did not realize this at the time, 
nor did he enjoy the sensation of not getting what he 
wanted. Nevertheless, a reverse or two was due. Not 
that his success was having any undesirable effect upon 
him; his Dutch common sense saved him from any such 
calamity. But at thirty years of age it is not good for 
any one, no matter how well balanced, to have things 
come his way too fast and too consistently. And here 
were breaks. He could not have everything he wanted, 
and it was just as well that he should find that out. 

In his next quest he found himself again opposed by 
his London friends. Unable to secure a new Alice in 
Wonderland for his child readers, he determined to give 
them Kate Greenaway. But here he had selected an- 
other recluse. Everybody discouraged him. The artist 
never saw visitors, he was told, and she particularly 
shunned editors and publishers. Her own publishers 
confessed that Miss Greenaway was inaccessible to them. 
"We conduct all our business with her by correspon- 
dence. I have never seen her personally myself," said a 
member of the firm. 

Bok inwardly decided that two failures in two days 
were sufficient, and he made up his mind that there 
should not be a third. He took a bus for the long ride 
to Hampstead Heath, where the illustrator lived, and 
finally stood before a picturesque Queen Anne house 
that one would have recognized at once, with its lower 
story of red brick, its upper part covered with red tiles, 
its windows of every size and shape, as the inspiration 



226 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

of Kate Greenaway's pictures. As it turned out later, 
Miss Greenaway's sister opened the door and told the 
visitor that Miss Greenaway was not at home. 

"But, pardon me, has not Miss Greenaway returned? 
Is not that she?" asked Bok, as he indicated a figure 
just coming down the stairs. And as the sister turned 
to see, Bok stepped into the hall. At least he was in- 
side ! Bok had never seen a photograph of Miss Green- 
away, he did not know that the figure coming down- 
stairs was the artist; but his instinct had led him right, 
and good fortune was with him. 

He now introduced himself to Kate Greenaway, and 
explained that one of his objects in coming to London 
was to see her on behalf of thousands of American 
children. Naturally there was nothing for the illus- 
trator to do but to welcome her visitor. She took him 
into the garden, where he saw at once that he was seated 
under the apple-tree of Miss Greenaway's pictures. It 
was in full bloom, a veritable picture of spring loveliness. 
Bok's love for nature pleased the artist and when he 
recognized the cat that sauntered up, he could see that 
he was making headway. But when he explained his 
profession and stated his errand, the atmosphere in- 
stantly changed. Miss Greenaway conveyed the un- 
mistakable impression that she had been trapped, and 
Bok realized at once that he had a long and difficult road 
ahead. 

Still, negotiate it he must and he did ! And after 
luncheon in the garden, with the cat in his lap, Miss 
Greenaway perceptibly thawed out, and when the editor 
left late that afternoon he had the promise of the artist 



MEETING A REVERSE OR TWO 227 

that she would do her first magazine work for him. 
That promise was kept monthly, and for nearly two 
years her articles appeared, with satisfaction to Miss 
Greenaway and with great success to the magazine. 

The next opposition to Bok's plans arose from the 
soreness generated by the absence of copyright laws 
between the United States and Great Britain and Eu- 
rope. The editor, who had been publishing a series of 
musical compositions, solicited the aid of Sir Arthur 
Sullivan. But it so happened that Sir Arthur's most 
famous composition, "The Lost Chord," had been taken 
without leave by American music publishers, and sold 
by the hundreds of thousands with the composer left 
out on pay-day. Sir Arthur held forth on this injustice, 
and said further that no accurate copy of "The Lost 
Chord" had, so far as he knew, ever been printed in the 
United States. Bok saw his chance, and also an op- 
portunity for a little Americanization. 

"Very well, Sir Arthur," suggested Bok; "with your 
consent, I will rectify both the inaccuracy and the in- 
justice. Write out a correct version of 'The Lost 
Chord'; I will give it to nearly a million readers, and 
so render obsolete the incorrect copies; and I shall be 
only too happy to pay you the first honorarium for an 
American publication of the song. You can add to 
the copy the statement that this is the first American 
honorarium you have ever received, and so shame the 
American publishers for their dishonesty." 

This argument appealed strongly to the composer, 
who made a correct transcript of his famous song, and 
published it with the following note: 



228 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

This is the first and only copy of "The Lost Chord" which 
has ever been sent by me to an American publisher. I be- 
lieve all the reprints in America are more or less incorrect. 
I have pleasure in sending this copy to my friend, Mr. Ed- 
ward W. Bok, for publication in The Ladies' Home Journal 
for which he gives me an honorarium, the only one I have 
ever received from an American publisher for this song. 

Arthur Sullivan. 

At least, thought Bok, he had healed one man's sore- 
ness toward America. But the next day he encoun- 
tered another. On his way to Paris, he stopped at 
Amiens to see Jules Verne. Here he found special 
difficulty in that the aged author could not speak Eng- 
lish, and Bok knew only a few words of casual French. 
Finally a neighbor's servant who knew a handful of 
English words was commandeered, and a halting three- 
cornered conversation was begun. 

Bok found two grievances here: the author was in- 
censed at the American public because it had insisted 
on classing his books as juveniles, and accepting them 
as stories of adventure, whereas he desired them to be 
recognized as prophetic stories based on scientific facts — 
an insistence which, as all the world knows, has since 
been justified. Bok explained, however, that the popu- 
lar acceptance of the author's books as stories of ad- 
venture was by no means confined to America; that 
even in his own country the same was true. But Jules 
Verne came back with the rejoinder that if the French 
were a pack of fools, that was no reason why the Ameri- 
cans should also be. 

The argument weighed somewhat with the author, 



MEETING A REVERSE OR TWO 229 

however, for lie then changed the conversation, and 
pointed out how he had been robbed by American 
publishers who had stolen his books. So Bok was once 
more face to face with the old non-copyright conditions; 
and although he explained the existence then of a new 
protective law, the old man was not mollified. He did 
not take kindly to Bok's suggestion for new work, and 
closed the talk, extremely difficult to all three, by de- 
claring that his writing days were over. 

But Bok was by no means through with non-copyright 
echoes, for he was destined next day to take part in an 
even stormier interview on the same subject with Alex- 
ander Dumas fits. Bok had been publishing a series of 
articles in which authors had told how they had been 
led to write their most famous books, and he wanted 
Dumas to tell "How I Came to Write 'Carnaie.'" 

To act as translator this time, Bok took a trusted 
friend with him, whose services he found were needed, 
as Dumas was absolutely without knowledge of English. 
No sooner was the editor's request made known to him 
than the storm broke. Dumas, hotly excited, denounced 
the Americans as robbers who had deprived him of his 
rightful returns on his book and play, and ended by 
declaring that he would trust no American editor or 
publisher. 

The mutual friend explained the new copyright con- 
ditions and declared that Bok intended to treat the 
author honorably. But Dumas was not to be molli- 
fied. He launched forth upon a new arraignment of 
the Americans; dishonesty was bred in their bones! 
and they were robbers by instinct. All of this dis- 



230 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

tinctly nettled Bok's Americanism. The interpreting 
friend finally suggested that the article should be writ- 
ten while Bok was in Paris; that he should be notified 
when the manuscript was ready, that he should then 
appear with the actual money in hand in French notes; 
and that Dumas should give Bok the manuscript when 
Bok handed Dumas the money. 

"After I count it," said Dumas. 

This was the last straw ! 

"Pray ask him," Bok suggested to the interpreter, 
"what assurance I have that he will deliver the manu- 
script to me after he has the money." The friend pro- 
tested against translating this thrust, but Bok insisted, 
and Dumas, not knowing what was coming, insisted 
that the message be given him. When it was, the man 
was a study; he became livid with rage. 

"But," persisted Bok, "say to Monsieur Dumas that 
I have the same privilege of distrusting him as he ap- 
parently has of distrusting me." 

And Bok can still see the violent gesticulations of the 
storming French author, his face burning with passion- 
ate anger, as the two left him. 

Edward Bok now sincerely hoped that his encounters 
with the absence of a law that has been met were at an end! 

Rosa Bonheur, the painter of "The Horse Fair," 
had been represented to Bok as another recluse who was 
as inaccessible as Kate Greenaway. He had known of the 
painter's intimate relations with the ex-Empress Eu- 
genie, and desired to get these reminiscences. Every- 
body dissuaded him; but again taking a French friend 
he made the journey to Fontainebleau, where the artist 
lived in a chateau in the little village of By. 



MEETING A REVERSE OR TWO 231 

A group of dogs, great, magnificent tawny creatures, 
welcomed the two visitors to the chateau; and the most 
powerful door that Bok had ever seen, as securely bolted 
as that of a cell, told of the inaccessibility of the mistress 
of the house. Two blue-frocked peasants explained 
how impossible it was for any one to see their mistress, 
so Bok asked permission to come in and write her a note. 

This was granted; and then, as in the case of Kate 
Greenaway, Rosa Bonheur herself walked into the hall, 
in a velvet jacket, dressed, as she always was, in man's 
attire. A delightful smile lighted the strong face, sur- 
mounted by a shock of gray hair, cut short at the back; 
and from the moment of her first welcome there was no 
doubt of her cordiality to the few who were fortunate 
enough to work their way into her presence. It was a 
wonderful afternoon, spent in the painter's studio in 
the upper part of the chateau; and Bok carried away 
with him the promise of Rosa Bonheur to write the story 
of her life for publication in the magazine. 

On his return to London the editor found that Charles 
Dana Gibson had settled down there for a time. Bok 
had always wanted Gibson to depict the characters of 
Dickens; and he felt that this was the opportunity, 
while the artist was in London and could get the at- 
mosphere for his work. Gibson was as keen for the idea 
as was Bok, and so the two arranged the series which 
was subsequently published. 

On his way to his steamer to sail for home, Bok visited 
"Ian Maclaren," whose Bonnie Brier Bush stories were 
then in great vogue, and not only contracted for Doctor 
Watson's stories of the immediate future, but arranged 



232 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

with him for a series of articles which, for two years 
thereafter, was published in the magazine. 

The editor now sailed for home, content with his as- 
sembly of foreign " features." 

On the steamer, Bok heard of the recent discovery of 
some unpublished letters by Louisa May Alcott, written 
to five girls, and before returning to Philadelphia, he 
went to Boston, got into touch with the executors of 
the will of Miss Alcott, brought the letters back with 
him to read, and upon reaching Philadelphia, wired his 
acceptance of them for publication. 

But the traveller was not at once to enjoy his home. 
After only a day in Philadelphia he took a train for 
Indianapolis. Here lived the most thoroughly Ameri- 
can writer of the day, in Bok's estimation: James Whit- 
comb Riley. An arrangement, perfected before his 
European visit, had secured to Bok practically exclusive 
rights to all the output of his Chicago friend Eugene 
Field, and he felt that Riley's work would admirably 
complement that of Field. This Bok explained to Riley, 
who readily fell in with the idea, and the editor returned 
to Philadelphia with a contract to see Riley's next dozen 
poems. A little later Field passed away. His last 
poem, "The Dream Ship," and his posthumous story 
"The Werewolf" appeared in The Ladies' Home Journal. 

A second series of articles was also arranged for with 
Mr. Harrison, in which he was to depict, in a personal 
way, the life of a President of the United States, the 
domestic life of the White House, and the financial ar- 
rangements made by the government for the care of the 
chief executive and his family. The first series of articles 



MEETING A REVERSE OR TWO 233 

by the former President had been very successful; Bok 
felt that they had accomplished much in making his 
women readers familiar with their country and the 
machinery of its government. After this, which had 
been undeniably solid reading, Bok reasoned that the 
supplementary articles, in lighter vein, would serve as 
a sort of dessert. And so it proved. 

Bok now devoted his attention to strengthening the 
fiction in his magazine. He sought Mark Twain, and 
bought his two new stories; he secured from Bret Harte 
a tale which he had just finished; and then ran the gamut 
of the best fiction writers of the day, and secured their 
best output. Marion Crawford, Conan Doyle, Sarah 
Orne Jewett, John Kendrick Bangs, Kate Douglas 
Wiggin, Hamlin Garland, Mrs. Burton Harrison, Eliza- 
beth Stuart Phelps, Mary E. Wilkins, Jerome K. Jerome, 
Anthony Hope, Joel Chandler Harris, and others fol- 
lowed in rapid succession. 

He next turned for a moment to his religious depart- 
ment, decided that it needed a freshening of interest, 
and secured Dwight L. Moody, whose evangelical work 
was then so prominently in the public eye, to conduct 
"Mr. Moody's Bible Class" in the magazine — practi- 
cally a study of the stated Bible lesson of the month with 
explanation in Moody's simple and effective style. 

The authors for whom the Journal was now pub- 
lishing attracted the attention of all the writers of the 
day, and the supply of good material became too great 
for its capacity. Bok studied the mechanical make- 
up, and felt that by some method he must find more 
room in the front portion. He had allotted the first 



234 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

third of the magazine to the general literary contents 
and the latter two-thirds to departmental features. 
Toward the close of the number, the departments nar- 
rowed down from full pages to single columns with 
advertisements on each side. 

One day Bok was handling a story by Rudyard Kip- 
ling which had overrun the space allowed for it in the 
front. The story had come late, and the rest of the front 
portion of the magazine had gone to press. The editor 
was in a quandary what to do with the two remaining 
columns of the Kipling tale. There were only two pages 
open, and these were at the back. He remade those 
pages, and continued the story from pages 6 and 7 to 
pages 38 and 39. 

At once Bok saw that this was an instance where 
" necessity was the mother of invention." He realized 
that if he could run some of his front material over to 
the back he would relieve the pressure at the front, 
present a more varied contents there, and make his ad- 
vertisements more valuable by putting them next to 
the most expensive material in the magazine. 

In the next issue he combined some of his smaller 
departments in the back; and thus, in 1896, he inaugu- 
rated the method of " running over into the back" 
which has now become a recognized principle in the 
make-up of magazines of larger size. At first, Bok's 
readers objected, but he explained why he did it; that 
they were the benefiters by the plan; and, so far as 
readers can be satisfied with what is, at best, an awk- 
ward method of presentation, they were content. To- 



MEETING A REVERSE OR TWO 235 

day the practice is undoubtedly followed to excess, some 
magazines carrying as much as eighty and ninety columns 
over from the front to the back; from such abuse it will, 
of course, free itself either by a return to the original 
method of make-up or by the adoption of some other 
less-irritating plan. 

In his reading about the America of the past, Bok 
had been impressed by the unusual amount of interest- 
ing personal material that constituted what is termed 
unwritten history — original events of tremendous per- 
sonal appeal in which great personalities figured but 
which had not sufficient historical importance to have 
been included in American history. Bok determined to 
please his older readers by harking back to the past 
and at the same time acquainting the younger genera- 
tion with the picturesque events which had preceded 
their time. 

He also believed that if he could " dress up" the past, 
he could arrest the attention of a generation which was 
too likely to boast of its interest only in the present and 
the future. He took a course of reading and consulted 
with Mr. Charles A. Dana, editor of the New York Sun, 
who had become interested in his work and had written 
him several voluntary letters of commendation. Mr. 
Dana gave material help in the selection of subjects 
and writers; and was intensely amused and interested 
by the manner in which his youthful confrere "dressed 
up" the titles of what might otherwise have looked like 
commonplace articles. 

"I know," said Bok to the elder editor, "it smacks 



236 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

a little of the sensational, Mr. Dana, but the purpose I 
have in mind of showing the young people of to-day 
that some great things happened before they came on 
the stage seems to me to make it worth while.' ' 

Mr. Dana agreed with this view, supplemented every 
effort of the Philadelphia editor in several subsequent 
talks, and in 1897 The Ladies' Home Journal began one 
of the most popular series it ever published. It was 
called " Great Personal Events," and the picturesque 
titles explained them. He first pictured the enthusiastic 
evening "When Jenny Lind Sang in Castle Garden," 
and, as Bok added to pique curiosity, "when people 
paid $20 to sit in rowboats to hear the Swedish night- 
ingale." 

This was followed by an account of the astonishing 
episode "When Henry Ward Beecher Sold Slaves in 
Plymouth Pulpit"; the picturesque journey "When 
Louis Kossuth Rode Up Broadway"; the triumphant 
tour "When General Grant Went Round the World"; 
the forgotten story of "When an Actress Was the Lady 
of the White House"; the sensational striking of the 
gold vein in 1849, "When Mackay Struck the Great 
Bonanza"; the hitherto little-known instance "When 
Louis Philippe Taught School in Philadelphia"; and 
even the lesser-known fact of the residence of the brother 
of Napoleon Bonaparte in America, "When the King 
of Spain Lived on the Banks of the Schuylkill"; while 
the story of "When John Wesley Preached in Georgia" 
surprised nearly every Methodist, as so few had known 
that the founder of their church had ever visited America. 
Each month picturesque event followed graphic hap- 



MEETING A REVERSE OR TWO 237 

pening, and never was unwritten history more readily 
read by the young, or the memories of the older folk 
more catered to than in this series which won new 
friends for the magazine on every hand. 



CHAPTER XXI 
A SIGNAL PIECE OF CONSTRUCTIVE WORK 

The influence of his grandfather and the injunction 
of his grandmother to her sons that each "should make 
the world a better or a more beautiful place to live in" 
now began to be manifest in the grandson. Edward 
Bok was unconscious that it was this influence. What 
directly led him to the signal piece of construction in 
which he engaged was the wretched architecture of 
small houses. As he travelled through the United 
States he was appalled by it. Where the houses were 
not positively ugly, they were, to him, repellently ornate. 
Money was wasted on useless turrets, filigree work, 
or machine-made ornamentation. Bok found out that 
these small householders never employed an architect, 
but that the houses were put up by builders from their 
own plans. 

Bok felt a keen desire to take hold of the small Ameri- 
can house and make it architecturally better. He fore- 
saw, however, that the subject would finally include 
small gardening and interior decoration. He feared that 
the subject would become too large for the magazine, 
which was already feeling the pressure of the material 
which he was securing. He suggested, therefore, to 
Mr. Curtis that they purchase a little magazine published 

in Buffalo, N. Y., called Country Life, and develop it 

238 



A SIGNAL PIECE OF CONSTRUCTIVE WORK 239 

into a first-class periodical devoted to the general 
subject of a better American architecture, gardening, 
and interior decoration, with special application to the 
small house. The magazine was purchased, and while 
Bok was collecting his material for a number of issues 
ahead, he edited and issued, for copyright purposes, 
a four-page magazine. 

An opportunity now came to Mr. Curtis to purchase 
The Saturday Evening Post, a Philadelphia weekly of 
honored prestige, founded by Benjamin Franklin. It 
was apparent at once that the company could not em- 
bark upon the development of two magazines at the 
same time, and as a larger field was seen for The Satur- 
day Evening Post, it was decided to leave Country Life 
in abeyance for the present. 

Mr. Frank Doubleday, having left the Scribners and 
started a publishing-house of his own, asked Bok to 
transfer to him the copyright and good will of Country 
Life — seeing that there was little chance for The Curtis 
Publishing Company to undertake its publication. 
Mr. Curtis was willing, but he knew that Bok had set 
his heart on the new magazine and left it for him to 
decide. The editor realized, as the Doubleday Company 
could take up the magazine at once, the unfairness of 
holding indefinitely the field against them by the pub- 
lication of a mere copyright periodical. And so, with 
a feeling as if he were giving up his child to another 
father, Bok arranged that The Curtis Publishing Com- 
pany should transfer to the Doubleday, Page Company 
all rights to the title and periodical of which the present 
beautiful publication Country Life is the outgrowth. 



240 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

Bok now turned to The Ladies' Home Journal as his 
medium for making the small-house architecture of 
America better. He realized the limitation of space, 
but decided to do the best he could under the circum- 
stances. He believed he might serve thousands of his 
readers if he could make it possible for them to secure, 
at moderate cost, plans for well-designed houses by the 
leading domestic architects in the country. He con- 
sulted a number of architects, only to find them unalter- 
ably opposed to the idea. They disliked the publicity 
of magazine presentation; prices differed too much in 
various parts of the country; and they did not care 
to risk the criticism of their contemporaries. It was 
"cheapening" their profession! 

Bok saw that he should have to blaze the way and 
demonstrate the futility of these arguments. At last he 
persuaded one architect to co-operate with him, and in 
1895 began the publication of a series of houses which 
could be built, approximately, for from one thousand 
five hundred dollars to five thousand dollars. The idea 
attracted attention at once, and the architect-author was 
swamped with letters and inquiries regarding his plans. 

This proved Bok's instinct to be correct as to the public 
willingness to accept such designs; upon this proof he 
succeeded in winning over two additional architects to 
make plans. He offered his readers full building specifi- 
cations and plans to scale of the houses with estimates 
from four builders in different parts of the United 
States for five dollars a set. The plans and specifica- 
tions were so complete in every detail that any builder 
could build the house from them. 




THE GRANDMOTHER 

Who counselled each of her children to make the world a better and more beautiful place 

to live in — a counsel which is now being carried on by her grandchildren, 

one of whom is Edward Bok 



A SIGNAL PIECE OF CONSTRUCTIVE WORK 241 

A storm of criticism now arose from architects and 
builders all over the country, the architects claiming 
that Bok was taking "the bread out of their mouths" 
by the sale of plans, and local builders vigorously ques- 
tioned the accuracy of the estimates. But Bok knew he 
was right and persevered. 

Slowly but surely he won the approval of the leading 
architects, who saw that he was appealing to a class of 
house-builders who could not afford to pay an archi- 
tect's fee, and that, with his wide circulation, he might 
become an influence for better architecture through these 
small houses. The sets of plans and specifications sold 
by the thousands. It was not long before the magazine 
was able to present small-house plans by the foremost 
architects of the country, whose services the average 
householder could otherwise never have 'dreamed of 
securing. 

Bok not only saw an opportunity to better the exterior 
of the small houses, but he determined that each plan 
published should provide for two essentials: every ser- 
vant's room should have two windows to insure cross- 
ventilation, and contain twice the number of cubic feet 
usually given to such rooms; and in place of the Amer- 
ican parlor, which he considered a useless room, should 
be substituted either a living-room or a library. He 
did not point to these improvements; every plan simply 
presented the larger servant's room and did not present 
a parlor. It is a singular fact that of the tens of thou- 
sands of plans sold, not a purchaser ever noticed the 
absence of a parlor except one woman in Brookline, 
Mass., who, in erecting a group of twenty-five "Journal 



242 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

houses," discovered after she had built ten that not one 
contained a parlor ! 

"Ladies' Home Journal houses " were now going up in 
communities all over the country, and Bok determined 
to prove that they could be erected for the prices given. 
Accordingly, he published a prize offer of generous 
amount for the best set of exterior and interior photo- 
graphs of a house built after a Journal plan within the 
published price. Five other and smaller prizes were 
also offered. A legally attested builder's declaration 
was to accompany each set of photographs. The sets 
immediately began to come in, until over five thousand 
had been received. Bok selected the best of these, 
awarded the prizes, and began the presentation of the 
houses actually built after the published plans. 

Of course this publication gave fresh impetus to the 
whole scheme; prospective house-builders pointed their 
builders to the proof given, and additional thousands of 
sets of plans were sold. The little houses became better 
and better in architecture as the series went on, and oc- 
casionally a plan for a house costing as high as ten thou- 
sand dollars was given. 

For nearly twenty-five years Bok continued to pub- 
lish pictures of houses and plans. Entire colonies of 
11 Ladies' Home Journal houses" have sprung up, and 
building promoters have built complete suburban de- 
velopments with them. How many of these homes have 
been erected it is, of course, impossible to say; the num- 
ber certainly runs into the thousands. 

It was one of the most constructive and far-reaching 
pieces of work that Bok did during his editorial career— 
a fact now recognized by all architects. Shortly before 




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A SIGNAL PIECE OF CONSTRUCTIVE WORK 243 

Stanford White passed away, he wrote: "I firmly be- 
lieve that Edward Bok has more completely influenced 
American domestic architecture for the better than any 
man in this generation. When he began, I was short- 
sighted enough to discourage him, and refused to co- 
operate with him. If Bok came to me now, I would not 
only make plans for him, but I would waive any fee for 
them in retribution for my early mistake." 

Bok then turned to the subject of the garden for the 
small house, and the development of the grounds around 
the homes which he had been instrumental in putting on 
the earth. He encountered no opposition here. The 
publication of small gardens for small houses finally ran 
into hundreds of pages, the magazine supplying planting 
plans and full directions as to when and how to plant — 
this time without cost. 

Next the editor decided to see what he could do for 
the better and simpler furnishing of the small American 
home. Here was a field almost limitless in possible im- 
provement, but he wanted to approach it in a new way. 
The best method baffled him until one day he met a 
woman friend who told him that she was on her way to a 
funeral at a friend's home. 

"I didn't know you were so well acquainted with Mrs. 
S ," said Bok. 

"I wasn't, as a matter of fact," replied the woman. 
"I'll be perfectly frank; I am going to the funeral just 

to see how Mrs. S 's house is furnished. She was 

always thought to have great taste, you know, and, 
whether you know it or not, a woman is always keen to 
look into another woman's home." 

Bok realized that he had found the method of pres- 



244 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

entation for his interior-furnishing plan if he could se- 
cure photographs of the most carefully furnished homes 
in America. He immediately employed the best avail- 
able expert, and within six months there came to him an 
assorted collection of over a thousand photographs of 
well-furnished rooms. The best were selected, and a 
series of photographic pages called "Inside of ioo 
Homes ,, was begun. The editor's woman friend had 
correctly pointed the way to him, for this series won for 
his magazine the enviable distinction of being the first 
magazine of standing to reach the then marvellous record 
of a circulation of one million copies a month. The edi- 
tions containing the series were sold out as fast as they 
could be printed. 

The editor followed this up with another successful 
series, again pictorial. He realized that to explain good 
taste in furnishing by text was almost impossible. So 
he started a series of all-picture pages called "Good 
Taste and Bad Taste." He presented a chair that was 
bad in lines and either useless or uncomfortable to sit 
in, and explained where and why it was bad; and then 
put a good chair next to it. and explained where and 
why it was good. 

The lesson to the eye was simply and directly effec- 
tive; the pictures told their story as no printed word 
could have done, and furniture manufacturers and 
dealers all over the country, feeling the pressure from 
their customers, began to put on the market the tables, 
chairs, divans, bedsteads, and dressing-tables which the 
magazine was portraying as examples of good taste. 
It was amazing that, within five years, the physical ap- 



A SIGNAL PIECE OF CONSTRUCTIVE WORK 245 

pearance of domestic furniture in the stores completely 
changed. 

The next undertaking was a systematic plan for im- 
proving the pictures on the walls of the American home. 
Bok was employing the best artists of the day: Edwin 
A. Abbey, Howard Pyle, Charles Dana Gibson, W. L. 
Taylor, Albert Lynch, Will H. Low, W. T. Smedley, 
Irving R. Wiles, and others. As his magazine was 
rolled to go through the mails, the pictures naturally 
suffered; Bok therefore decided to print a special 
edition of each important picture that he published, an 
edition on plate-paper, without text, and offered to his 
readers at ten cents a copy. Within a year he had sold 
nearly one hundred thousand copies, such pictures as 
W. L. Taylor's "The Hanging of the Crane" and 
"Home-Keeping Hearts" being particularly popular. 

Pictures were difficult to advertise successfully; it 
was before the full-color press had become practicable 
for rapid magazine work; and even the large-page 
black-and-white reproductions which Bok could give in 
his magazine did not, of course, show the beauty of the 
original paintings, the majority of which were in full 
color. He accordingly made arrangements with art 
publishers to print his pictures in their original col- 
ors; then he determined to give the public an oppor- 
tunity to see what the pictures themselves looked like. 

He asked his art editor to select the two hundred and 
fifty best pictures and frame them. Then he engaged 
the art gallery of the Philadelphia Art Club, and ad- 
vertised an exhibition of the original paintings. No 
admission was charged. The gallery was put into gala 



246 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

attire, and the pictures were well hung. The exhibition, 
which was continued for two weeks, was visited by over 
fifteen thousand persons. 

His success here induced Bok to take the collection 
to New York. The galleries of the American Art As- 
sociation were offered him, but he decided to rent the 
ballroom of the Hotel Waldorf. The hotel was then 
new; it was the talk not only of the town but of the 
country, while the ballroom had been pictured far and 
wide. It would have a publicity value. He could secure 
the room for only four days, but he determined to make 
the most of the short time. The exhibition was well 
advertised; a "private view" was given the evening 
before the opening day, and when, at nine o'clock the fol- 
lowing morning, the doors of the exhibition were thrown 
open, over a thousand persons were waiting in line. 

The hotel authorities had to resort to a special cordon 
of police to handle the crowds, and within four days over 
seventeen thousand persons had seen the pictures. On 
the last evening it was after midnight before the doors 
could be closed to the waiting-line. Boston was next 
visited, and there, at the Art Club Gallery, the pre- 
vious successes were repeated. Within two weeks over 
twenty-eight thousand persons visited the exhibition. 

Other cities now clamored for a sight of the pictures, 
and it was finally decided to end the exhibitions by a 
visit to Chicago. The success here exceeded that in any 
of the other cities. The banquet-hall of the Auditorium 
Hotel had been engaged; over two thousand persons were 
continually in a waiting-line outside, and within a week 
nearly thirty thousand persons pushed and jostled them- 



A SIGNAL PIECE OF CONSTRUCTIVE WORK 247 

selves into the gallery. Over eighty thousand persons 
in all had viewed the pictures in the four cities. 

The exhibition was immediately followed by the pub- 
lication of a portfolio of the ten pictures that had proved 
the greatest favorites. These were printed on plate- 
paper and the portfolio was offered by Bok to his read- 
ers for one dollar. The first thousand sets were ex- 
hausted within a fortnight. A second thousand were 
printed, and these were quickly sold out. 

Bok's next enterprise was to get his pictures into the 
homes of the country on a larger scale; he determined 
to work through the churches. He selected the fifty 
best pictures, made them into a set and offered first 
a hundred sets to selected schools, which were at once 
taken. Then he offered two hundred and fifty sets to 
churches to sell at their fairs. The managers were to 
promise to erect a Ladies' Borne Journal booth (which 
Bok knew, of course, would be most effective advertis- 
ing), and the pictures were to sell at twenty-five and fifty 
cents each, with some at a dollar each. The set was 
offered to the churches for five dollars: the actual cost 
of reproduction and expressage. On the day after the 
publication of the magazine containing the offer, enough 
telegraphic orders were received to absorb the entire 
edition. A second edition was immediately printed; 
and finally ten editions, four thousand sets in all, were 
absorbed before the demand was filled. By this method, 
two hundred thousand pictures had been introduced 
into American homes, and over one hundred and fifty 
thousand dollars in money had been raised by the 
churches as their portion. 



248 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

But all this was simply to lead up to the realization of 
Bok's cherished dream: the reproduction, in enormous 
numbers, of the greatest pictures in the world in their 
original colors. The plan, however, was not for the 
moment feasible: the cost of the four-color process was 
at that time prohibitive, and Bok had to abandon it. 
But he never lost sight of it. He knew the hour would 
come when he could carry it out, and he bided his 
time. 

It was not until years later that his opportunity came, 
when he immediately made up his mind to seize it. The 
magazine had installed a battery of four-color presses; 
the color-work in the periodical was attracting universal 
attention, and after all stages of experimentation had 
been passed, Bok decided to make his dream a reality. 
He sought the co-operation of the owners of the greatest 
private art galleries in the country : J. Pierpont Morgan, 
Henry C. Frick, Joseph E. Widener, George W. Elkins, 
John G. Johnson, Charles P. Taft, Mrs. John L. Gardner, 
Charles L. Freer, Mrs. Havemeyer, and the owners 
of the Benjamin Altman Collection, and sought permis- 
sion to reproduce their greatest paintings. 

Although each felt doubtful of the ability of any proc- 
ess adequately to reproduce their masterpieces, the 
owners heartily co-operated with Bok. But Bok's co- 
editors discouraged his plan, since it would involve 
endless labor, the exclusive services of a corps of pho- 
tographers and engravers, and the employment of the 
most careful pressmen available in the United States. 
The editor realized that the obstacles were numerous 



A SIGNAL PIECE OF CONSTRUCTIVE WORK 249 

and that the expense would be enormous; but he felt 
sure that the American public was ready for his idea. 
And early in 1912 he announced his series and began 
its publication. 

The most wonderful Rembrandt, Velasquez, Turner, 
Hobbema, Van Dyck, Raphael, Frans Hals, Romney, 
Gainsborough, Whistler, Corot, Mauve, Vermeer, Fra- 
gonard, Botticelli, and Titian reproductions followed in 
such rapid succession as fairly to daze the magazine 
readers. Four pictures were given in each number, and 
the faithfulness of the reproductions astonished even their 
owners. The success of the series was beyond Bok's 
own best hopes. He was printing and selling one and 
three-quarter million copies of each issue of his magazine; 
and before he was through he had presented to American 
homes throughout the breadth of the country over 
seventy million reproductions of forty separate master- 
pieces of art. 

The dream of years had come true. 

Bok had begun with the exterior of the small Ameri- 
can house and made an impression upon it; he had 
brought the love of flowers into the hearts of thousands 
of small householders who had never thought they 
could have an artistic garden within a small area; he 
had changed the lines of furniture, and he had put better 
art on the walls of these homes. He had conceived a 
full-rounded scheme, and he had carried it out. 

It was a peculiar satisfaction to Bok that Theodore 
Roosevelt once summed up this piece of work in these 
words: "Bok is the only man I ever heard of who 



250 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

changed, for the better, the architecture of an entire 
nation, and he did it so quickly and yet so effectively 
that we didn't know it was begun before it was finished. 
That is a mighty big job for one man to have done." 



CHAPTER XXII 
AN ADVENTURE IN CIVIC AND PRIVATE ART 

Edward Bok now turned his attention to those in- 
fluences of a more public nature which he felt could 
contribute to elevate the standard of public taste. 

He was surprised, on talking with furnishers of homes, 
to learn to what extent women whose husbands had 
recently acquired means would refer to certain styles of 
decoration and hangings which they had seen in the 
Pullman parlor-cars. He had never seriously regarded 
the influence of the furnishing of these cars upon the 
travelling public; now he realized that, in a decorative 
sense, they were a distinct factor and a very unfortunate 
one. 

For in those days, twenty years ago, the decoration of 
the Pullman parlor-car was atrocious. Colors were in 
riotous discord; every foot of wood-panelling was carved 
and ornamented, nothing being left of the grain of even 
the most beautiful woods; gilt was recklessly laid on 
everywhere regardless of its fitness or relation. The 
hangings in the cars were not only in bad taste, but dis- 
tinctly unsanitary; the heaviest velvets and showiest 
plushes were used; mirrors with biunzed and red- 
plushed frames were the order of the day; cord portieres, 
lambrequins, and tasselled fringes were still in vogue 
in these cars. It was a veritable riot of the worst con- 
ceivable ideas; and it was this standard that these 

251 



252 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

women of the new-money class were accepting and in- 
troducing into their homes ! 

Bok wrote an editorial calling attention to these 
facts. The Pullman Company paid no attention to it, 
but the railroad journals did. With one accord they 
seized the cudgel which Bok had raised, and a series 
of hammerings began. The Pullman conductors be- 
gan to report to their division chiefs that the passengers 
were criticising the cars, and the company at'last woke 
up. It issued a cynical rejoinder; whereupon Bok 
wrote another editorial, and the railroad journals once 
more joined in the chorus. 

The president of a large Western railroad wrote to 
Bok that he agreed absolutely with his position, and 
asked whether he had any definite suggestions to offer 
for the improvement of some new cars which they were 
about to order. Bok engaged two of the best architects 
and decorators in the country, and submitted the re- 
sults to the officials of the railroad company, who ap- 
proved of them heartily. The Pullman Company did 
not take very kindly, however, to suggestions thus 
brought to them. But a current had been started; the 
attention of the travelling public had been drawn for 
the first time to the wretched decoration of the cars; 
and public sentiment was beginning to be vocal. 

The first change came when a new dining-car on the 
Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad suddenly 
appeared. It was an artistically treated Flemish-oak- 
panelled car with longitudinal beams and cross-beams, 
giving the impression of a ceiling-beamed room. Be- 
tween the " beams" was a quiet tone of deep yellow. 



AN ADVENTURE IN CIVIC AND PRIVATE ART 253 

The sides of the car were wainscoting of plain surface 
done in a Flemish stain rubbed down to a dull finish. 
The grain of the wood was allowed to serve as decora- 
tion; there was no carving. The whole tone of the car 
was that of the rich color of the sunflower. The effect 
upon the travelling public was instantaneous. Every 
passenger commented favorably on the car. 

The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe* Railroad now 
followed suit by introducing a new Pullman chair-car. 
The hideous and germ-laden plush or velvet curtains 
were gone, and leather hangings of a rich tone took 
their place. All the grill-work of a bygone age was 
missing; likewise the rope curtains. The woods were 
left to show the grain; no carving was visible anywhere. 
The car was a relief to the eye, beautiful and simple, 
and easy to keep clean. Again the public observed, and 
expressed its pleasure. 

The Pullman people now saw the drift, and wisely 
reorganized their decorative department. Only those 
who remember the Pullman parlor-car of twenty years 
ago can realize how long a step it is from the atrociously 
decorated, unsanitary vehicle of that day to the simple 
car of to-day. 

It was only a step from the Pullman car to the 
landscape outside, and Bok next decided to see what 
he could do toward eliminating the hideous bill-board 
advertisements which defaced the landscape along the 
lines of the principal roads. He found a willing ally in 
this idea in Mr. J. Horace McFarland, of Harrisburg, 
Pennsylvania, one of the most skilful photographers in 
the country, and the president of The American Civic 



254 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

Association. McFarland and Bok worked together; 
they took innumerable photographs, and began to pub- 
lish them, calling public attention to the intrusion upon 
the public eye. 

Page after page appeared in the magazine, and after 
a few months these roused public discussion as to legal 
control of this class of advertising. Bok meanwhile 
called the attention of women's clubs and other civic 
organizations to the question, and urged that they clean 
their towns of the obnoxious bill-boards. Legislative 
measures regulating the size, character, and location of 
bill-]boards were introduced in various States, a tax on 
each bill-board was suggested in other States, and the 
agitation began to bear fruit. 

Bok now called upon his readers in general to help by 
offering a series of prizes totalling several thousands of 
dollars for two photographs, one showing a fence, barn, 
or outbuilding painted with an advertisement or having 
a bill-board attached to it, or a field with a bill-board in 
it, and a second photograph of the same spot showing 
the advertisement removed, with an accompanying affi- 
davit of the owner of the property, legally attested, 
asserting that the advertisement had been permanently 
removed. Hundreds of photographs poured in, scores 
of prizes were awarded, the results were published, and 
requests came in for a second series of prizes, which were 
duly awarded. 

While Bok did not solve the problem of bill-board ad- 
vertising, and while in some parts of the country it is 
a more flagrant nuisance to-day than ever before, he 
had started the first serious agitation against bill-board 



AN ADVENTURE IN CIVIC AND PRIVATE ART 255 

advertising of bad design, detrimental, from its location, 
to landscape beauty. He succeeded in getting rid of a 
huge bill-board which had been placed at the most pic- 
turesque spot at Niagara Falls; and hearing of "the 
largest advertisement sign in the world" to be placed on 
the rim of the Grand Canyon of the Colorado, he notified 
the advertisers that a photograph of the sign, if it was 
erected, would be immediately published in the magazine 
and the attention of the women of America called to the 
defacement of one of the most impressive arid beautiful 
scenes in the world. The article to be advertised was a 
household commodity, purchased by women; and the 
owners realized that the proposed advertisement would 
not be to the benefit of their product. The sign was 
abandoned. 

Of course the advertisers whose signs were shown in 
the magazine immediately threatened the withdrawal of 
their accounts from The Ladies' Home Journal, and the 
proposed advertiser at the Grand Canyon, whose busi- 
ness was conspicuous in each number of the magazine, 
became actively threatening. But Bok contended that 
the one proposition had absolutely no relation to the 
other, and that if concerns advertised in the magazine 
simply on the basis of his editorial policy toward bill- 
board advertising, it was, to say the least, not a sound 
basis for advertising. No advertising account was ever 
actually withdrawn. 

In their travels about, Mr. McFarland and Bok began 
to note the disreputably untidy spots which various 
municipalities allowed in the closest proximity to the 
centre of their business life, in the most desirable resi- 



256 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

dential sections, and often adjacent to the most im- 
portant municipal buildings and parks. It was decided 
to select a dozen cities, pick out the most flagrant in- 
stances of spots which were not only an eyesore and a 
disgrace from a municipal standpoint, but a menace to 
health and meant a depreciation of real-estate value. 

Lynn, Massachusetts, was the initial city chosen, a 
number of photographs were taken, and the first of a 
series of "Dirty Cities" was begun in the magazine. 
The effect was instantaneous. The people of Lynn rose 
in protest, and the municipal authorities threatened suit 
against the magazine; the local newspapers were virulent 
in their attacks. Without warning, they argued, Bok 
had held up their city to disgrace before the entire 
country; the attack was unwarranted; in bad taste; 
every citizen in Lynn should thereafter cease to buy the 
magazine, and so the criticisms ran. In answer Bok 
merely pointed to the photographs; to the fact that the 
camera could not lie, and that if he had misrepresented 
conditions he was ready to make amends. 

Of course the facts could not be gainsaid; local pride 
was aroused, and as a result not only were the adver- 
tised "dirty spots" cleaned up, but the municipal au- 
thorities went out and hunted around for other spots 
in the city, not knowing what other photographs Bok 
might have had taken. 

Trenton, New Jersey, was the next example, and the 
same storm of public resentment broke loose — with ex- 
actly the same beneficial results in the end to the city. 
Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, was the third one of Ameri- 
ca's "dirty cities." Here public anger rose particularly 



AN ADVENTURE IN CIVIC AND PRIVATE ART 257 

high, the magazine practically being barred from the 
news-stands. But again the result was to the lasting 
benefit of the community. 

Memphis, Tennessee, came next, but here a different 
spirit was met. Although some resentment was ex- 
pressed, the general feeling was that a service had been 
rendered the city, and that the only wise and practical 
solution was for the city to meet the situation. The 
result here was a group of municipal buildings costing 
millions of dollars, photographs of which The Ladies 1 
Home Journal subsequently published with gratification 
to itself and to the people of Memphis. 

Cities throughout the country now began to look 
around to see whether they had dirty spots within their 
limits, not knowing when the McFarland photographers 
might visit them. Bok received letters from various 
municipalities calling his attention to the fact that they 
were cognizant of spots in their cities and were cleaning 
up, and asking that, if he had photographs of these 
spots, they should not be published. 

It happened that in two such instances Bok had al- 
ready prepared sets of photographs for publication. 
These he sent to the mayors of the respective cities, 
stating that if they would return them with an addi- 
tional set showing the spots cleaned up there would be 
no occasion for their publication. In both cases this 
was done. Atlanta, Georgia; New Haven, Connecti- 
cut; Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, and finally Bok's own city 
of Philadelphia were duly chronicled in the magazine; 
local storms broke and calmed down — with the spots in 
every instance improved. 



258 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

It was an interesting experiment in photographic 
civics. The pity of it is that more has not been done 
along this and similar lines. 

The time now came when Bok could demonstrate the 
willingness of his own publishing company to do what 
it could to elevate the public taste in art. With the 
increasing circulation of The Ladies 9 Home Journal and 
of The Saturday Evening Post the business of the com- 
pany had grown to such dimensions that in 1908 plans 
for a new building were started. For purposes of air 
and light the vicinity of Independence Square was se- 
lected. Mr. Curtis purchased an entire city block facing 
the square, and the present huge but beautiful publica- 
tion building was conceived. 

Bok strongly believed that good art should find a 
place in public buildings where large numbers of persons 
might find easy access to it. The proximity of the pro- 
posed new structure to historic Independence Hall and 
the adjacent buildings would make it a focal point for 
visitors from all parts of the country and the world. 
The opportunity presented itself to put good art, within 
the comprehension of a large public, into the new build- 
ing, and Bok asked permission of Mr. Curtis to intro- 
duce a strong note of mural decoration. The idea com- 
mended itself to Mr. Curtis as adding an attraction to 
the building and a contribution to public art. 

The great public dining-room, seating over seven hun- 
dred persons, on the top floor of the building, affording 
unusual lighting facilities, was first selected; and Max- 
field Parrish was engaged to paint a series of seventeen 
panels to fill the large spaces between the windows and 




Ah e« 






5 § 



AN ADVENTURE IN CIVIC AND PRIVATE ART 259 

an unusually large wall space at the end of the room. 
Parrish contracted to give up all other work and devote 
himself to the commission which attracted him greatly. 

For over a year he made sketches, and finally the 
theme was decided upon: a bevy of youths and maidens 
in gala costume, on their way through gardens and along 
terraces to a great fete, with pierrots and dancers and 
musicians on the main wall space. It was to be a picture 
of happy youth and sunny gladness. Five years after 
the conception of the idea the final panel was finished 
and installed in the dining-room, where the series has 
since been admired by the thirty to fifty thousand visitors 
who come to the Curtis Building each year from for- 
eign lands and from every State in America. No other 
scheme of mural decoration was ever planned on so large 
a scale for a commercial building, or so successfully 
carried out. 

The great wall space of over one thousand square feet, 
unobstructed by a single column, in the main foyer of 
the building was decided upon as the place for the 
pivotal note to be struck by some mural artist. After 
looking carefully over the field, Bok finally decided upon 
Edwin A. Abbey. He took a steamer and visited Abbey 
in his English home. The artist was working on his 
canvases for the State capitol at Harrisburg, and it was 
agreed that the commission for the Curtis Building was 
to follow the completion of the State work. 

"What subject have you in mind?" asked Abbey. 

"None," replied Bok. "That is left entirely to you." 

The artist and his wife looked at each other in be- 
wilderment. 



260 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

"Rather unusual," commented Abbey. "You have 
nothing in mind at all?" 

"Nothing, except to get the best piece of work you 
have ever done," was the assurance. 

Poor Abbey ! His life had been made so tortuous by 
suggestions, ideas, yes, demands made upon him in the 
work of the Harrisburg panels upon which he was en- 
gaged, that a commission in which he was to have free 
scope, his brush full leeway, with no one making sug- 
gestions but himself and Mrs. Abbey, seemed like a 
dream. When he explained this, Bok assured him that 
was exactly what he was offering him : a piece of work, 
the subject to be his own selection, with the assurance 
of absolute liberty to carry out his own ideas. Never 
was an artist more elated. 

"Then, I'll give you the best piece of work of my life," 
said Abbey. 

"Perhaps there is some subject which you have long 
wished to paint rather than any other," asked Bok, 
"that might fit our purpose admirably?" 

There was: a theme that he had started as a fresco 
for Mrs. Abbey's bedroom. But it would not answer 
this purpose at all, although he confessed he would 
rather paint it than any subject in the realm of all liter- 
ature and art. 

"And the subject?" asked Bok. 

"The Grove of Academe," replied Abbey, and the 
eyes of the artist and his wife were riveted on the editor. 

"With Plato and his disciples?" asked Bok. 

"The same," said Abbey. "But you see it wouldn't 
fit." 



AN ADVENTURE IN CIVIC AND PRIVATE ART 261 

"Wouldn't fit?" echoed Bok. "Why, it's the very 
thing." 

Abbey and his wife were now like two happy children. 
Mrs. Abbey fetched the sketches which her husband 
had begun years ago, and when Bok saw them he was 
delighted. He realized at once that conditions and 
choice would conspire to produce Abbey's greatest piece 
of mural work. 

The arrangements were quickly settled; the Curtis 
architect had accompanied Bok to explain the archi- 
tectural possibilities to Abbey, and when the artist 
bade good-by to the two at the railroad station, his 
last words were: 

"Bok, you are going to get the best Abbey in the 
world." 

And Mrs. Abbey echoed the prophecy ! 

But Fate intervened. On the day after Abbey had 
stretched his great canvas in Sargent's studio in London, 
expecting to begin his work the following week, he sud- 
denly passed away, and what would, in all likelihood, 
have been Edwin Abbey's mural masterpiece was lost 
to the world. 

Assured of Mrs. Abbey's willingness to have another 
artist take the theme of the Grove of Academe and 
carry it out as a mural decoration, Bok turned to Howard 
Pyle. He knew Pyle had made a study of Plato, and 
believed that, with his knowledge and love of the work 
of the Athenian philosopher, a good decoration would 
result. Pyle was then in Italy; Bok telephoned the 
painter's home in Wilmington, Delaware, to get his ad- 
dress, only to be told that an hour earlier word had 



262 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

been received by the family that Pyle had been fatally 
stricken the day before. 

Once more Bok went over the field of mural art and 
decided this time that he would go far afield, and pre- 
sent his idea to Boutet de Monvel, the French decorative 
artist. Bok had been much impressed with some dec- 
orative work by De Monvel which had just been ex- 
hibited in New York. By letter he laid the proposition 
in detail before the artist, asked for a subject, and stipu- 
lated that if the details could be arranged the artist 
should visit the building and see the place and sur- 
roundings for himself. After a lengthy correspondence, 
and sketches submitted and corrected, a plan for what 
promised to be a most unusual and artistically decora- 
tive panel was arrived at. 

The date for M. de MonvePs visit to Philadelphia was 
fixed, a final letter from the artist reached Bok on a 
Monday morning, in which a few remaining details were 
satisfactorily cleared up, and a cable was sent assuring 
De Monvel of the entire satisfaction of the company 
with his final sketches and arrangements. The follow- 
ing morning Bok picked up his newspaper to read that 
Boutet de Monvel had suddenly passed away in Paris 
the previous evening ! 

Bok, thoroughly bewildered, began to feel as if some 
fatal star hung over his cherished decoration. Three 
times in succession he had met the same decree of 
fate. 

He consulted six of the leading mural decorators in 
America, asking whether they would consent, not in 
competition, to submit each a finished full-color sketch 



AN ADVENTURE IN CIVIC AND PRIVATE ART 263 

of the subject which he believed fitted for the place in 
mind; they could take the Grove of Academe or not, as 
they chose; the subject was to be of their own selection. 
Each artist was to receive a generous fee for his sketch, 
whether accepted or rejected. In due time, the six 
sketches were received; impartial judges were selected, 
no names were attached to the sketches, several con- 
ferences were held, and all the sketches were rejected ! 

Bok was still exactly where he started, while the build- 
ing was nearly complete, with no mural for the large 
place so insistently demanding it. 

He now recalled a marvellous stage-curtain entirely 
of glass mosaic executed by Louis C. Tiffany, of New 
York, for the Municipal Theatre at Mexico City. The 
work had attracted universal attention at its exhibition, 
art critics and connoisseurs had praised it unstintingly, 
and Bok decided to experiment in that direction. 

Just as the ancient Egyptians and Persians had used 
glazed brick and tile, set in cement, as their form of 
wall decoration, so Mr. Tiffany had used favrile glass, 
set in cement. The luminosity was marvellous; the 
effect of light upon the glass was unbelievably beauti- 
ful, and the colorings obtained were a joy to the senses. 

Here was not only a new method in wall decoration, 
but one that was entirely practicable. Glass would 
not craze like tiles or mosaic; it would not crinkle as 
will canvas; it needed no varnish. It would retain its 
color, freshness, and beauty, and water would readily 
cleanse it from dust. 

He sought Mr. Tiffany, who was enthusiastic over the 
idea of making an example of his mosaic glass of such 



264 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

dimensions which should remain in this country, and 
gladly offered to co-operate. But, try as he might, 
Bok could not secure an adequate sketch for Mr. Tif- 
fany to carry out. Then he recalled that one day while 
at Maxfield Parrish's summer home in New Hampshire 
the artist had told him of a dream garden which he would 
like to construct, not on canvas but in reality. Bok 
suggested to Parrish that he come to New York. He 
asked him if he could put his dream garden on canvas. 
The artist thought he could; in fact, was greatly at- 
tracted to the idea; but he knew nothing of mosaic work, 
and was not particularly attracted by the idea of having 
his work rendered in that medium. 

Bok took Parrish to Mr. Tiffany's studio; the two 
artists talked together, the glass-worker showed the 
canvas-painter his work, with the result that the two 
became enthusiastic to co-operate in trying the experi- 
ment. Parrish agreed to make a sketch for Mr. Tif- 
fany's approval, and within six months, after a number 
of conferences and an equal number of sketches, they 
were ready to begin the work. Bok only hoped that 
this time both artists would outlive their commissions ! 

It was a huge picture to be done in glass mosaic. The 
space to be filled called for over a million pieces of glass, 
and for a year the services of thirty of the most skilled 
artisans would be required. The work had to be done 
from a series of bromide photographs enlarged to a size 
hitherto unattempted. But at last the decoration was 
completed; the finished art piece was placed on exhibi- 
tion in New York and over seven thousand persons came 
to see it. The leading art critics pronounced the result 



AN ADVENTURE IN CIVIC AND PRIVATE ART 265 

to be the most amazing instance of the tone capacity of 
glass-work ever achieved. It was a veritable wonder- 
piece, far exceeding the utmost expression of paint and 
canvas. 

For six months a group of skilled artisans worked to 
take the picture apart in New York, transport it and set 
it into its place in Philadelphia. But at last it was in 
place: the wonder-picture in glass of which painters 
have declared that "mere words are only aggravating 
in describing this amazing picture." Since that day 
over one hundred thousand visitors to the building have 
sat in admiration before it. 

The Grove of Academe was to become a Dream Gar- 
den, but it was only after six years of incessant effort, 
with obstacles and interventions almost insurmountable, 
that the dream became true. 



CHAPTER XXIII 
THEODORE ROOSEVELTS INFLUENCE 

When the virile figure of Theodore Roosevelt swung 
down the national highway, Bok was one of thousands 
of young men who felt strongly the attraction of his 
personality. Colonel Roosevelt was only five years the 
senior of the editor; he spoke, therefore, as one of his 
own years. The energy with which he said and did 
things appealed to Bok. He made Americanism some- 
thing more real, more stirring than Bok had ever felt 
it; he explained national questions in a way that caught 
Bok's fancy and came within his comprehension. Bok's 
lines had been cast with many of the great men of the 
day, but he felt that there was something distinctive 
about the personality of this man: his method of doing 
things and his way of saying things. Bok observed 
everything Colonel Roosevelt did and read everything 
he wrote. 

The editor now sought an opportunity to know per- 
sonally the man whom he admired. It came at a dinner 
at the University Club, and Colonel Roosevelt suggested 
that they meet there the following day for a "talk- 
fest." For three hours the two talked together. The 
fact that Colonel Roosevelt was of Dutch ancestry in- 
terested Bok; that Bok was actually of Dutch birth 
made a strong appeal to the colonel. With his tremen- 
dous breadth of interests, Roosevelt, Bok found, had fol- 

266 



THEODORE ROOSEVELT'S INFLUENCE 267 

lowed him quite closely in his work, and was familiar 
with "its high points/' as he called them. "We must 
work for the same ends," said the colonel, "you in your 
way, I in mine. But our lines are bound to cross. You 
and I can each become good Americans by giving our 
best to make America better. With the Dutch stock 
there is in both of us, there's no limit to what we can do. 
Let's go to it." Naturally that talk left the two firm 
friends. 

Bok felt somehow that he had been given a new 
draft of Americanism: the word took on a new mean- 
ing for him; it stood for something different, something 
deeper and finer than before. And every subsequent 
talk with Roosevelt deepened the feeling and stirred 
Bok's deepest ambitions. "Go to it, you Dutchman," 
Roosevelt would say, and Bok would go to it. A talk 
with Roosevelt always left him feeling as if mountains 
were the easiest things in the world to move. 

One of Theodore Roosevelt's arguments which made 
a deep impression upon Bok was that no man had a 
right to devote his entire life to the making of money. 
"You are in a peculiar position," said the man of 
Oyster Bay one day to Bok; "you are in that happy 
position where you can make money and do good at the 
same time. A man wields a tremendous power for good or 
for evil who is welcomed into a million homes and read 
with confidence. That's fine, and is all right so far as it 
goes, and in your case it goes very far. Still, there re- 
mains more for you to do. The public has built up for 
you a personality : now give that personality to whatever 
interests you in contact with your immediate fellow- 



268 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

men: something in your neighborhood, your city, or 
your State. With one hand work and write to your 
national audience: let no fads sway you. Hew close to 
the line. But, with the other hand, swing into the life 
immediately around you. Think it over." 

Bok did think it over. He was now realizing the 
dream of his life for which he had worked: his means 
were sufficient to give his mother every comfort; to in- 
stall her in the most comfortable surroundings wher- 
ever she chose to live; to make it possible for her to 
spend the winters in the United States and the summers 
in the Netherlands, and thus to keep in touch with her 
family and friends in both countries. He had for years 
toiled unceasingly to reach this point: he felt he had now 
achieved at least one goal. 

He had now turned instinctively to the making of a 
home for himself. After an engagement of four years 
he had been married, on October 22, 1896, to Mary 
Louise Curtis, the only child of Mr. and Mrs. Cyrus 
H. K. Curtis; two sons had been born to them; he 
had built and was occupying a house at Merion, Penn- 
sylvania, a suburb six miles from the Philadelphia City 
Hall. When she was in this country his mother lived 
with him, and also his brother, and, with a strong belief 
in life insurance, he had seen to it that his family was 
provided for in case of personal incapacity or of his 
demise. In other words, he felt that he had put his own 
house in order; he had carried out what he felt is every 
man's duty: to be, first of all, a careful and adequate 
provider for his family. He was now at the point where 
he could begin to work for another goal, the goal that 



THEODORE ROOSEVELT'S INFLUENCE 269 

he felt so few American men saw: the point in his life 
where he could retire from the call of duty and follow 
the call of inclination. 

At the age of forty he tried to look ahead and plan 
out his life as far as he could. Barring unforeseen ob- 
stacles, he determined to retire from active business 
when he reached his fiftieth year, and give the remainder 
of his life over to those interests and influences which 
he assumed now as part of his life, and which, at fifty, 
should seem to him best worth while. He realized that 
in order to do this he must do two things: he must hus- 
band his financial resources and he must begin to ac- 
cumulate a mental reserve. 

The wide public acceptance of the periodical which 
he edited naturally brought a share of financial success 
to him. He had experienced poverty, and as he sub- 
sequently wrote, in an article called "Why I Believe in 
Poverty/ ' he was deeply grateful for his experience. 
He had known what it was to be poor; he had seen others 
dear to him suffer for the bare necessities; there was, in 
fact, not a single step on that hard road that he had 
not travelled. He could, therefore, sympathize with 
the fullest understanding with those similarly situated, 
could help as one who knew from practice and not from 
theory. He realized what a marvellous blessing poverty 
can be; but as a condition to experience, to derive from 
it poignant lessons, and then to get out of; not as a 
condition to stay in. 

Of course many said to Bok when he wrote the ar- 
ticle in which he expressed these beliefs: "That's all 
very well; easy enough to say, but how can you get out 



270 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

of it?" Bok realized that he could not definitely show 
any one the way. No one had shown him. No two 
persons can find the same way out. Bok determined to 
lift himself out of poverty because his mother was not 
born in it, did not belong in it, and could not stand it. 
That gave him the first essential: a purpose. Then he 
backed up the purpose with effort and an ever-ready 
willingness to work, and to work at anything that came 
his way, no matter what it was, so long as it meant "the 
way out." He did not pick and choose; he took what 
came, and did it in the best way he knew how; and when 
he did not like what he was doing he still did it as well 
as he could while he was doing it, but always with an 
eye single to the purpose not to do it any longer than was 
strictly necessary. He used every rung in the ladder as 
a rung to the one above. He always gave more than his 
particular position or salary asked for. He never worked 
by the clock; always by the job; and saw that it was 
well done regardless of the time it took to do it. This 
meant effort, of course, untiring, ceaseless, unsparing; 
and it meant work, hard as nails. 

He was particularly careful never to live up to his 
income; and as his income increased he increased not 
the percentage of expenditure but the percentage of 
saving. Thrift was, of course, inborn with him as a 
Dutchman, but the necessity for it as a prime factor in 
life was burned into him by his experience with poverty. 
But he interpreted thrift not as a trait of niggardliness, 
but as Theodore Roosevelt interpreted it: common sense 
applied to spending. 

At forty, therefore, he felt he had learned the first 



THEODORE ROOSEVELT'S INFLUENCE 271 

essential to carrying out his idea of retirement at fifty. 

The second essential — varied interests outside of his 
business upon which he could rely on reHnquishing his 
duties— he had not cultivated. He had quite naturally, 
in line with his belief that concentration means success, 
immersed himself in his business to the exclusion of al- 
most everything else. He felt that he could now spare 
a certain percentage of his time to follow Theodore 
Roosevelt's ideas and let the breezes of other worlds 
blow over him. In that way he could do as Roosevelt 
suggested and as Bok now firmly believed was right: 
he could develop himself along broader lines, albeit the 
lines of his daily work were broadening in and of them- 
selves, and he could so develop a new set of inner re- 
sources upon which he could draw when the time came 
to relinquish his editorial position. 

He saw, on every side, the pathetic figures of men who 
could not let go after their greatest usefulness was past; 
of other men who dropped before they realized their 
arrival at the end of the road; and, most pathetic of all, 
of men who having retired, but because of lack of inner 
resources did not know what to do with themselves, 
had become a trial to themselves, their families, and 
their communities. 

Bok decided that, given health and mental freshness, 
he would say good-by to his public before his public 
might decide to say good-by to him. So, at forty, he 
candidly faced the facts of life and began to prepare 
himself for his retirement at fifty under circumstances 
that would be of his own making and not those of others. 

And thereby Edward Bok proved that he was still, 



272 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

by instinct, a Dutchman, and had not in his thirty-four 
years of residence in the United States become so thor- 
oughly Americanized as he believed. 

However, it was an American, albeit of Dutch ex- 
traction, one whom he believed to be the greatest Amer- 
ican in his own day, who had set him thinking and shown 
him the way. 



CHAPTER XXIV 

THEODORE ROOSEVELT'S ANONYMOUS EDITORIAL 

WORK 

While Theodore Roosevelt was President of the 
United States, Bok was sitting one evening talking with 
him, when suddenly Mr. Roosevelt turned to him and 
said with his usual emphasis: "Bok, I envy you your 
power with your public.' ' 

The editor was frankly puzzled. 

"That is a strange remark from the President of the 
United States," he replied. 

"You may think so," was the rejoinder. "But lis- 
ten. When do I get the ear of the public ? In its busiest 
moments. My messages are printed in the newspapers 
and read hurriedly, mostly by men in trolleys or rail- 
road-cars. Women hardly ever read them, I should 
judge. Now you are read in the evening by the fireside 
or under the lamp, when the day's work is over and the 
mind is at rest from other things and receptive to what 
you offer. Don't you see where you have it on me?" 

This diagnosis was keenly interesting, and while the 
President talked during the balance of the evening, Bok 
was thinking. Finally, he said: "Mr. President, I 
should like to share my power with you." 

"How?" asked Mr. Roosevelt. 

"You recognize that women do not read your mes- 
sages; and yet no President's messages ever discussed 

273 



274 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

more ethical questions that women should know about 
and get straight in their minds. As it is, some of your 
ideas are not at all understood by them; your strenuous- 
life theory, for instance, your factory-law ideas, and par- 
ticularly your race-suicide arguments. Men don't fully 
understand them, for that matter; women certainly do 
not." 

"I am aware of all that," said the President. "What 
is your plan to remedy it?" 

"Have a department in my magazine, and explain 
your ideas," suggested Bok. 

"Haven't time for another thing. You know that," 
snapped back the President. "Wish I had." 

"Not to write it, perhaps, yourself," returned Bok. 
"But why couldn't you find time to do this: select the 
writer here in Washington in whose accuracy you have 
the most implicit faith; let him talk with you for one 
hour each month on one of those subjects; let him write 
out your views, and submit the manuscript to you; and 
we will have a department stating exactly how the ma- 
terial is obtained and how far it represents your own 
work. In that way, with only an hour's work each 
month, you can get your views, correctly stated, before 
this vast audience when it is not in trolleys or railroad- 



cars." 



"But I haven't the hour," answered Roosevelt, im- 
pressed, however, as Bok saw. "I have only half an 
hour, when I am awake, when I am really idle, and that 
is when I am being shaved." 

"Well," calmly suggested the editor, "why not two 
of those half -hours a month, or perhaps one ? " 



ROOSEVELT'S ANONYMOUS EDITORIAL WORK 275 

"What?" answered the President, sitting upright, his 
teeth flashing but his smile broadening. "You Dutch- 
man, you'd make me work while I'm getting shaved, 
too?" 

"Well," was the answer, "isn't the result worth the 
effort?" 

"Bok, you are absolutely relentless," said the Presi- 
dent. "But you're right. The result would be worth 
the effort. What writer have you in mind ? You seem 
to have thought this thing through." 

" How about O'Brien ? You think well of him ? " 

(Robert L. O'Brien, now editor of the Boston Herald, 
was then Washington correspondent for the Boston 
Transcript and thoroughly in the President's confidence.) 

"Fine," said the President. "I trust O'Brien im- 
plicitly. All right, if you can get O'Brien to add it on, 
I'U try it." 

And so the "shaving interviews" were begun; and 
early in 1906 there appeared in The Ladies' Home Jour- 
nal a department called "The President," with the sub- 
title: "A Department in which will be presented the 
attitude of the President on those national questions 
which affect the vital interests of the home, by a writer 
intimately acquainted and in close touch with him." 

O'Brien talked with Mr. Roosevelt once a month, 
wrote out the results, the President went over the proofs 
carefully, and the department was conducted with great 
success for a year. 

But Theodore Roosevelt was again to be the editor 
of a department in The Ladies' Home Journal; this time 
to be written by himself under the strictest possible 



276 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

anonymity, so closely adhered to that, until this revela- 
tion, only five persons have known the authorship. 

Feeling that it would be an interesting experiment to 
see how far Theodore Roosevelt's ideas could stand un- 
supported by the authority of his vibrant personality, 
Bok suggested the plan to the colonel. It was just 
after he had returned from his South American trip. 
He was immediately interested. 

"But how can we keep the authorship really anony- 
mous ?" he asked. 

"Easily enough," answered Bok, "if you're willing to 
do the work. Our letters about it must be written in 
long hand addressed to each other's homes; you must 
write your manuscript in your own hand; I will copy it 
in mine, and it will go to the printer in that way. I will 
personally send you the proofs; you mark your correc- 
tions in pencil, and I will copy them in ink; the com- 
pany will pay me for each article, and I will send you 
my personal check each month. By this means, the 
identity of the author will be concealed." 

Colonel Roosevelt was never averse to hard work if 
it was necessary to achieve a result that he felt was 
worth while. 

"All right," wrote the colonel finally. "I'll try— 
with you!— the experiment for a year: 12 articles. . . . 
I don't know that I can give your readers satisfaction, 
but I shall try my very best. I am very glad to be as- 
sociated with you, anyway. At first I doubted the wis- 
dom of the plan, merely because I doubted whether I 
could give you just that you wished. I never know 
what an audience wants: I know what it ought to want: 



ROOSEVELT'S ANONYMOUS EDITORIAL WORK 277 

and sometimes I can give it, or make it accept what 
I think it needs — and sometimes I cannot. But the 
more I thought over your proposal, the more I liked it. 
. . . Whether the wine will be good enough to at- 
tract without any bush I don't know; and besides, in 
such cases the fault is not in the wine, but in the fact 
that the consumers decline to have their attention at- 
tracted unless there is a bush !" 

In the latter part of 19 16 an anonymous department 
called "Men" was begun in the magazine. 

The physical work was great. The colonel punctili- 
ously held to the conditions, and wrote manuscript and 
letters with his own hand, and Bok carried out his part 
of the agreement. Nor was this simple, for Colonel 
Roosevelt's manuscript — particularly when, as in this 
case, it was written on yellow paper with a soft pencil 
and generously interlined — was anything but legible. 
Month after month the two men worked each at his own 
task. To throw the public off the scent, during the 
conduct of the department, an article or two by Colonel 
Roosevelt was published in another part of the magazine 
under his own name, and in the department itself the 
anonymous author would occasionally quote himself. 

It was natural that the appearance of a department 
devoted to men in a woman's magazine should attract 
immediate attention. The department took up the 
various interests of a man's life, such as real efficiency; 
his duties as an employer and his usefulness to his em- 
ployees; the employee's attitude toward his employer; 
the relations of men and women; a father's relations to 
his sons and daughters; a man's duty to his community; 



278 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

the public-school system; a man's relation to his church, 
and kindred topics. 

The anonymity of the articles soon took on interest 
from the positiveness of the opinions discussed; but so 
thoroughly had Colonel Roosevelt covered his tracks 
that, although he wrote in his usual style, in not a single 
instance was his name connected with the department. 
Lyman Abbott was the favorite "guess" at first; then 
after various other public men had been suggested, the 
newspapers finally decided upon former President Eliot 
of Harvard University as the writer. 

All this intensely interested and amused Colonel 
Roosevelt and he fairly itched with the desire to write 
a series of criticisms of his own articles to Doctor Eliot. 
Bok, however, persuaded the colonel not to spend more 
physical effort than he was already doing on the arti- 
cles; for, in addition, he was notating answers on the 
numerous letters received, and those Bok answered 
"on behalf of the author." 

For a year, the department continued. During all 
that time the secret of the authorship was known 
to only one man, besides the colonel and Bok, and their 
respective wives ! 

When the colonel sent his last article in the series to 
Bok, he wrote: 

Now that the work is over, I wish most cordially to thank 
you, my dear fellow, for your unvarying courtesy and kind- 
ness. I have not been satisfied with my work. This is the 
first time I ever tried to write precisely to order, and I am 
not one of those gifted men who can do so to advantage. 
Generally I find that the 3,000 words is not the right length 




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ROOSEVELT'S ANONYMOUS EDITORIAL WORK 279 

and that I wish to use 2,000 or 4,000 ! And in consequence 
feel as if I had either padded or mutilated the article. And 
I am not always able to feel that every month I have some- 
thing worth saying on a given subject. 
But I hope that you have not been too much disappointed. 

Bok had not been, and neither had his public ! 

In the meanwhile, Bok had arranged with Colonel 
Roosevelt for his reading and advising upon manu- 
scripts of special significance for the magazine. In 
this work, Colonel Roosevelt showed his customary 
promptness and thoroughness. A manuscript, no mat- 
ter how long it might be, was in his hands scarcely forty- 
eight hours, more generally twenty-four, before it was 
read, a report thereon written, and the article on its 
way back. His reports were always comprehensive and 
invariably interesting. There was none of the cut- 
and-dried flavor of the opinion of the average "reader"; 
he always put himself into the report, and, of course, 
that meant a warm personal touch. If he could not 
encourage the publication of a manuscript, his reasons 
were always fully given, and invariably without per- 
sonal bias. 

On one occasion Bok sent him a manuscript which he 
was sure was, in its views, at variance with the colonePs 
beliefs. The colonel, he knew, felt strongly on the sub- 
ject, and Bok wondered what would be his criticism. 
The report came back promptly. He reviewed the 
article carefully and ended: "Of course, this is all at 
variance with my own views. I believe thoroughly 
and completely that this writer is all wrong. And yet, 
from his side of the case, I am free to say that he makes 



280 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

HILL, OfwX <(* ^ff/d 



•AOAMORC 







^J ^ .C t oCCTK*. 



ONE OF THEODORE ROOSEVELT'S "REPORTS" AS A READER OF 
SPECIAL MANUSCRIPTS 

out the best case I have read anywhere. I think a 
magazine should present both sides of all questions; 
and if you want to present this side, I should strongly 
recommend that you do so with this article." 

Not long after, Bok decided to induce Colonel Roose- 
velt to embark upon an entirely new activity, and ne- 
gotiations were begun (alas, too late ! for it was in the au- 



ROOSEVELT'S ANONYMOUS EDITORIAL WORK 281 

tumn of 1 91 8), which, owing to their tentative character, 
were never made public. Bok told Colonel Roosevelt 
that he wanted to invest twenty-five thousand dollars 
a year in American boyhood — the boyhood that he 
felt twenty years hence would be the manhood of 
America, and that would actually solve the problems 
with which we were now grappling. 

Although, all too apparently, he was not in his usual 
vigorous health, Colonel Roosevelt was alert in a mo- 
ment. 

"Fine!" he said, with his teeth gleaming. "Couldn't 
invest better anywhere. How are you going to do it ? " 

"By asking you to assume the active headship of the 
National Boy Scouts of America, and paying you that 
amount each year as a fixed salary." 

The colonel looked steadily ahead for a moment, 
without a word, and then with the old Roosevelt smile 
wreathing his face and his teeth fairly gleaming, he 
turned to his "tempter," as he called him, and said: 

"Do you know that was very well put? Yes, sir, 
very well put." 

"Yes?" answered Bok. "Glad you think so. But 
how about your acceptance of the idea ? " 

"That's another matter; quite another matter. How 
about the organization itself ? There are men in it that 
don't approve of me at all, you know," he said. 
. Bok explained that the organization knew nothing 
of his offer; that it was entirely unofficial. It was 
purely a personal thought. He believed the Boy 
Scouts of America needed a leader; that the colonel 
was the one man in the United States fitted by every 



282 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

natural quality to be that leader; that the Scouts would 
rally around him, and that, at his call, instead of four 
hundred thousand Scouts, as there were then, the or- 
ganization would grow into a million and more. Bok 
further explained that he believed his connection with 
the national organization was sufficient, if Colonel Roose- 
velt would favorably consider such a leadership, to war- 
rant him in presenting it to the national officers; and 
he was inclined to believe they would welcome the op- 
portunity. He could not assure the colonel of this! 
He had no authority for saying they would; but was 
Colonel Roosevelt receptive to the idea? 

At first, the colonel could not see it. But he went 
over the ground as thoroughly as a half-hour talk per- 
mitted; and finally the opportunity for doing a piece of 
constructive work that might prove second to none that 
he had ever done, made its appeal. 

"You mean for me to be the active head?" asked the 
colonel. 

"Could you be anything else, colonel ?" answered 
Bok. 

"Quite so," said the colonel. "That's about right. 
Do you know," he pondered, "I think Edie (Mrs. Roose- 
velt) might like me to do something like that. She 
would figure it would keep me out of mischief in 1920," 
and the colonel's smile spread over his face. 

"Bok," he at last concluded, "do you know, after 
all, I think you've said something ! Let's think it over. 
Let's see how I get along with this trouble of mine. I 
am not sure, you know, how far I can go in the future. 
Not at all sure, you know—not at all. That last trip 



ROOSEVELT'S ANONYMOUS EDITORIAL WORK 283 

of mine to South America was a bit too much. Shouldn't 
have done it, you know. I know it now. Well, as I 
say, let's both think it over and through; I will, gladly 
and most carefully. There's much in what you say; 
it's a great chance; I'd love doing it. By Jove! it 
would be wonderful to rally a million boys for real 
Americanism, as you say. It looms up as I think it 
over. Suppose we let it simmer for a month or two." 

And so it was left — for "a month or two." It was 
to be forever — unfortunately. Edward Bok has al- 
ways felt that the most worth-while idea that ever 
came to him had, for some reason he never could under- 
stand, come too late. He felt, as he will always feel, 
that the boys of America had lost a national leader 
that might have led them — where would have been the 
limit? 



CHAPTER XXV 

THE PRESIDENT AND THE BOY 

One of the incidents connected with Edward Bok 
that Theodore Roosevelt never forgot was when Bok's 
eldest boy chose the colonel as a Christmas present. 
And no incident better portrays the wonderful char- 
acter of the colonel than did his remarkable response 
to the compliment. 

A vicious attack of double pneumonia had left the 
heart of the boy very weak — and Christmas was close 
by ! So the father said : 

"It's a quiet Christmas for you this year, boy. Sup- 
pose you do this: think of the one thing in the world 
that you would rather have than anything else and 
I'll give you that, and that will have to be your Christ- 
mas." 

"I know now," came the instant reply. 

"But the world is a big place, and there are lots of 
things in it, you know." 

"I know that," said the boy, "but this is something 
I have wanted for a long time, and would rather have 
than anything els© in the world." And he looked as 
if he meant it. 

"Well, out with it, then, if you're so sure." 

And to the father's astonished ears came this request: 

"Take me to Washington as soon as my heart is all 

284 



THE PRESIDENT AND THE BOY 285 

right, introduce me to President Roosevelt, and let me 
shake hands with him. ,, 

"All right," said the father, after recovering from his 
surprise. "I'll see whether I can fix it." And that 
morning a letter went to the President saying that he 
had been chosen as a Christmas present. Naturally, any 
man would have felt pleased, no matter how high his 
station, and for Theodore Roosevelt, father of boys, 
the message had a special appeal. 

The letter had no sooner reached Washington than 
back came an answer, addressed not to the father but 
to the boy ! It read : 

The White House, Washington. 
November 13 th, 1907. 
Dear Curtis: 

Your father has just written me, and I want him to bring 
you on and shake hands with me as soon as you are well 
enough to travel. Then I am going to give you, myself, a 
copy of the book containing my hunting trips since I have been 
President; unless you will wait until the new edition, which 
contains two more chapters, is out. If so, I will send it to you, 
as this new edition probably won't be ready when you come 
on here. 
Give my warm regards to your father and mother. 

Sincerely yours, 

Theodore Roosevelt. 

Here was joy serene ! But the boy's heart had acted 
queerly for a few days, and so the father wrote, thanked 
the President, and said that as soon as the heart moder- 
ated a bit the letter would be given the boy. It was a 
rare bit of consideration that now followed. No sooner 
had the father's letter reached the White House than an 



286 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

answer came back by first post— this time with a special- 
delivery stamp on it. It was Theodore Roosevelt, 
the father, who wrote this time; his mind and time 
filled with affairs of state, and yet full of tender thought- 
fulness for a little boy: 

Dear Mr. Bok: — 

I have your letter of the 16th instant. I hope the little 
fellow will soon be all right. Instead of giving him my letter, 
give him a message from me based on the letter, if that will 
be better for him. Tell Mrs. Bok how deeply Mrs. Roosevelt 
and I sympathize with her. We know just how she feels. 

Sincerely yours, 

Theodore Roosevelt. 

"That's pretty fine consideration," said the father. 
He got the letter during a business conference and he 
read it aloud to the group of business men. Some 
there were in that group who keenly differed with the 
President on national issues, but they were all fathers, 
and two of the sturdiest turned and walked to the win- 
dow as they said: "Yes, that is fine !" 

Then came the boy's pleasure when he was handed the 
letter; the next few days were spent inditing an answer 
to "my friend, the President." At last the momentous 
epistle seemed satisfactory, and off to the busy presi- 
dential desk went the boyish note, full of thanks and 
assurances that he would come just as soon as he could, 
and that Mr. Roosevelt must not get impatient ! 

The "soon as he could" time, however, did not come 
as quickly as all had hoped ! — a little heart pumped for 
days full of oxygen and accelerated by hypodermic in- 
jections is slow to mend. But the President's framed 



THE PRESIDENT AND THE BOY 287 

letter, hanging on the spot on the wall first seen in the 
morning, was a daily consolation. 

Then, in March, although four months after the prom- 
ise — and it would not have been strange, in his busy 
life, for the President to have forgotten or at least over- 
looked it — on the very day that the book was published 
came a special " large-paper' ' copy of The Outdoor 
Pastimes of an American Hunter, and on the fly-leaf there 
greeted the boy, in the President's own hand : 

To Master Curtis Bok, 
With the best wishes of his friend, 

Theodore Roosevelt. 
March 11, 1908. 

The boy's cup was now full, and so said his letter to 
the President. And the President wrote back to the 
father: "I am really immensely amused and interested, 
and shall be mighty glad to see the little fellow.' ' 

In the spring, on a beautiful May day, came the great 
moment. The mother had to go along, the boy insisted, 
to see the great event, and so the trio found themselves 
shaking the hand of the President's secretary at the 
White House. 

"Oh, the President is looking for you, all right," 
he said to the boy, and then the next moment the three 
were in a large room. Mr. Roosevelt, with beaming 
face, was already striding across the room, and with a 
"Well, well, and so this is my friend Curtis!" the two 
stood looking into each other's faces, each fairly wreathed 
in smiles, and each industriously shaking the hand of 
the other. 



288 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

"Yes, 'Mr. President, I'm mighty glad to see you!" 
said the boy. 

"I am glad to see you, Curtis," returned Mr. Roose- 
velt. 

Then there came a white rose from the presidential 
desk for the mother, but after that father and mother 
might as well have faded away. Nobody existed save 
the President and the boy. The anteroom was full; in 
the Cabinet-room a delegation waited to be addressed. 
But affairs of state were at a complete standstill as, 
with boyish zeal, the President became oblivious to all 
but the boy before him. 

"Now, Curtis, I've got some pictures here of bears 
that a friend of mine has just shot. Look at that 
whopper, fifteen hundred pounds — that's as much as 
a horse weighs, you know. Now, my friend shot him" 
— and it was a toss-up who was the more keenly inter- 
ested, the real boy or the man-boy, as picture after 
picture came out and bear adventure crowded upon the 
heels of bear adventure. 

"Gee, he's a corker, all right!" came from the boy 
at one point, and then, from the President: "That's 
right, he is a corker. Now you see his head here" — 
and then both were off again. 

The private secretary came in at this point and 
whispered in the President's ear. 

"I know, I know. I'll see him later. Say that I am 
very busy now." And the face beamed with smiles. 

"Now, Mr. President — " began the father. 

"No, sir; no, sir; not at all. Affairs can wait. This 
is a long-standing engagement between Curtis and me, 
and that must come first. Isn't that so, Curtis?" 



THE PRESIDENT AND THE BOY 289 

Of course the boy agreed. 

Suddenly the boy looked around the room and said: 

" Where's your gun, Mr. President? Got it here?" 

"No," laughingly came from the President, "but I'll 
tell you" — and then the two heads were together again. 

A moment for breath-taking came, and the boy said: 

"Aren't you ever afraid of being shot?" 

"You mean while I am hunting?" 

"Oh, no. I mean as President." 

"No," replied the smiling President. "Til tell you, 
Curtis; I'm too busy to think about that. I have too 
many things to do to bother about anything of that 
sort. When I was in battle I was always too anxious to 
get to the front to think about the shots. And here — 
well, here I'm too busy too. Never think about it. 
But I'll tell you, Curtis, there are some men down 
there," pointing out of the window in the direction of 
the capitol, "called the Congress, and if they would 
only give me the four battleships I want, I'd be perfectly 
willing to have any one take a crack at me." Then, for 
the first time recognizing the existence of the parents, 
the President said: "And I don't know but if they did 
pick me off I'd be pretty well ahead of the game." 

Just in that moment only did the boy-knowing Presi- 
dent get a single inch above the boy-interest. It was 
astonishing to see the natural accuracy with which the 
man gauged the boy-level. 

"Now, how would you like to see a bear, Curtis?" 
came next. "I know where there's a beauty, twelve 
hundred pounds." 

"Must be some bear !" interjected the boy. 

"That's what it is," put in the President. "Regular 



290 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

cinnamon-brown type" — and then off went the talk 
to the big bear at the Washington "Zoo" where the 
President was to send the boy. 

Then, after a little: "Now, Curtis, see those men over 
there in that room. They've travelled from all parts of 
the country to come here at my invitation, and Fve got 
to make a little speech to them, and I'll do that while 
you go off to see the bear." 

And then the hand came forth to say good-by. The 
boy put his in it, each looked into the other's face, and 
on neither was there a place big enough to put a ten- 
cent piece that was not wreathed in smiles. "He cer- 
tainly is all right," said the boy to the father, looking 
wistfully after the President. 

Almost to the other room had the President gone 
when he, too, instinctively looked back to find the boy 
following him with his eyes. He stopped, wheeled 
around, and then the two instinctively sought each other 
again. The President came back, the boy went forward. 
This time each held out both hands, and as each looked 
once more into the other's eyes a world of complete 
understanding was in both faces, and every looker-on 
smiled with them. 

"Good-by, Curtis," came at last from the President. 

"Good-by, Mr. President," came from the boy. 

Then, with another pump-handly shake and with a 
"Gee, but he's great, all right!" the boy went out to 
see the cinnamon-bear at the "Zoo," and to live it all 
over in the days to come. 

Two boy-hearts had met, although one of them be- 
longed to the President of the United States. 



CHAPTER XXVI 
THE LITERARY BACK-STAIRS 

His complete absorption in the magazine work now 
compelled Bok to close his newspaper syndicate in New 
York and end the writing of his weekly newspaper liter- 
ary letter. He decided, however, to transfer to the 
pages of his magazine his idea of making the American 
public more conversant with books and authors. Ac- 
cordingly, he engaged Robert Bridges (the present editor 
of Scribner's Magazine) to write a series of conversa- 
tional book-talks under his nom de plume of "Droch." 
Later, this was supplemented by the engagement of 
Hamilton W. Mabie, who for years reviewed the newest 
books. 

In almost every issue of the magazine there appeared 
also an article addressed to the literary novice. Bok was 
eager, of course, to attract the new authors to the maga- 
zine; but, particularly, he had in mind the correction of 
the popular notion, then so prevalent (less so to-day, 
fortunately, but still existent), that only the manuscripts 
of famous authors were given favorable reading in edi- 
torial offices; that in these offices there really existed a 
clique, and that unless the writer knew the literary 
back-stairs he had a slim chance to enter and be heard. 

In the minds of these misinformed writers, these 

back-stairs are gained by "knowing the editor" or 

through "having some influence with him." These 
i 291 



292 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

writers have conclusively settled two points in their 
own minds: first, that an editor is antagonistic to the 
struggling writer; and, second, that a manuscript sent 
in the ordinary manner to an editor never reaches him. 
Hence, some "influence" is necessary, and they set about 
to secure it. 

Now, the truth is, of course, that there are no "liter- 
ary back-stairs" to the editorial office of the modern 
magazine. There cannot be. The making of a modern 
magazine is a business proposition; the editor is there 
to make it pay. He can do this only if he is of service 
to his readers, and that depends on his ability to obtain 
a class of material essentially the best of its kind and 
varied in its character. 

The "best," while it means good writing, means also 
that it shall say something. The most desired writer 
in the magazine office is the man who has something to 
say, and knows how to say it. Variety requires that 
there shall be many of these writers, and it is the edi- 
tor's business to ferret them out. It stands to reason, 
therefore, that there can be no such thing as a "clique"; 
limitation by the editor of his list of authors would 
mean being limited to the style of the few and the 
thoughts of a handful. And with a public that easily 
tires even of the best where it continually comes from 
one source, such an editorial policy would be suicidal. 

Hence, if the editor is more keenly alert for one thing 
than for another, it is for the new writer. The fre- 
quency of the new note in his magazine is his salvation; 
for just in proportion as he can introduce that new note 
is his success with his readers. A successful magazine 



THE LITERARY BACK-STAIRS 293 

is exactly like a successful store: it must keep its wares 
constantly fresh and varied to attract the eye and hold 
the patronage of its customers. 

With an editor ever alive to the new message, the 
new note, the fresh way of saying a thing, the new angle 
on a current subject, whether in article or story — since 
fiction is really to-day only a reflection of modern 
thought — the foolish notion that an editor must be ap- 
proached through " influence," by a letter of introduc- 
tion from some friend or other author, falls of itself. 
There is no more powerful lever to open the modern 
magazine door than a postage-stamp on an envelope 
containing a manuscript that says something. No in- 
fluence is needed to bring that manuscript to the edi- 
tor's desk or to his attention. That he will receive it the 
sender need not for a moment doubt; his mail is too 
closely scanned for that very envelope. 

The most successful authors have "broken into" the 
magazines very often without even a letter accompany- 
ing their first manuscript. The name and address in 
the right-hand corner of the first page; some "return" 
stamps in the left corner, and all that the editor re- 
quires is there. The author need tell nothing about the 
manuscript; if what the editor wants is in it he will find 
it. An editor can stand a tremendous amount of letting 
alone. If young authors could be made to realize how 
simple is the process of "breaking into" the modern 
magazine, which apparently gives them such needless 
heartburn, they would save themselves infinite pains, 
time, and worry. 

Despite all the rubbish written to the contrary, manu- 



294 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

scripts sent to the magazines of to-day are, in every 
case, read, and frequently more carefully read than the 
author imagines. Editors know that, from the stand- 
point of good business alone, it is unwise to return a 
manuscript unread. Literary talent has been found 
in many instances where it was least expected. 

This does not mean that every manuscript received 
by a magazine is read from first page to last. There is 
no reason why it should be, any more than that all of a 
bad egg should be eaten to prove that it is bad. The 
title alone sometimes decides the fate of a manuscript. 
If the subject discussed is entirely foreign to the aims 
of the magazine, it is simply a case of misapplication 
on the author's part; and it would be a waste of time 
for the editor to read something which he knows from 
its subject he cannot use. 

This, of course, applies more to articles than to other 
forms of literary work, although unsuitability in a poem 
is naturally as quickly detected. Stories, no matter 
how unpromising they may appear at the beginning, are 
generally read through, since gold in a piece of fiction 
has often been found almost at the close. This careful 
attention to manuscripts in editorial offices is fixed by 
rules, and an author's indorsement or a friend's judg- 
ment never affects the custom. 

At no time does the fallacy hold in a magazine office 
that "a big name counts for everything and an unknown 
name for nothing." There can be no denial of the fact 
that where a name of repute is attached to a meritorious 
story or article the combination is ideal. But as be- 
tween an indifferent story and a well-known name and 



THE LITERARY BACK-STAIRS 295 

a good story with an unknown name the editor may be 
depended upon to accept the latter. Editors are very 
careful nowadays to avoid the public impatience that 
invariably follows upon publishing material simply on 
account of the name attached to it. Nothing so quickly 
injures the reputation of a magazine in the estimation 
of its readers. If a person, taking up a magazine, reads 
a story attracted by a famous name, and the story dis- 
appoints, the editor has a doubly disappointed reader 
on his hands: a reader whose high expectations from the 
name have not been realized and who is disappointed 
with the story. 

It is a well-known fact among successful magazine 
editors that their most striking successes have been 
made by material to which unknown names were at- 
tached, where the material was fresh, the approach new, 
the note different. That is what builds up a magazine; 
the reader learns to have confidence in what he finds in 
the periodical, whether it bears a famous name or not. 

Nor must the young author believe that the best work 
in modern magazine literature a is dashed off at white 
heat." What is dashed off reads dashed of, and one 
does not come across it in the well-edited magazine, be- 
cause it is never accepted. Good writing is laborious 
writing, the result of revision upon revision. The work 
of masters such as Robert Louis Stevenson and Rudyard 
Kipling represents never less than eight or ten revisions, 
and often a far greater number. It was Stevenson who 
once said to Edward Bok, after a laborious correction of 
certain proofs: "My boy, I could be a healthy man, I 
think, if I did something else than writing. But to 



2Q6 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

write, as I try to write, takes every ounce of my vital- 
ity." Just as the best "impromptu" speeches are those 
most carefully prepared, so do the simplest articles and 
stories represent the hardest kind of work; the simpler 
the method seems and the easier the article reads, the 
harder, it is safe to say, was the work put into it. 

But the author must also know when to let his ma- 
terial alone. In his excessive regard for style even so 
great a master as Robert Louis Stevenson robbed his work 
of much of the spontaneity and natural charm found, 
for example, in his Vailima Letters. The main thing is 
for a writer to say what he has to say in the best way, 
natural to himself, in which he can say it, and then let 
it alone — always remembering that, provided he has 
made himself clear, the message itself is of greater im- 
port than the manner in which it is said. Up to a 
certain point only is a piece of literary work an artistic 
endeavor. A readable, lucid style is far preferable to 
what is called a "literary style" — a foolish phrase, since 
it often means nothing except a complicated method of 
expression which confuses rather than clarifies thought. 
What the public wants in its literature is human na- 
ture, and that human nature simply and forcibly ex- 
pressed. This is fundamental, and this is why true 
literature has no fashion and knows no change, despite 
the cries of the modern weaklings who affect weird 
forms. The clarity of Shakespeare is the clarity of 
to-day and will be that of to-morrow. 



CHAPTER XXVII 
WOMEN'S CLUBS AND WOMAN SUFFRAGE 

Edward Bok was now jumping from one sizzling 
frying-pan into another. He had become vitally in- 
terested in the growth of women's clubs as a power for 
good, and began to follow their work and study their 
methods. He attended meetings; he had his editors 
attend others and give him reports; he collected and 
read the year-books of scores of clubs, and he secured 
and read a number of the papers that had been pre- 
sented by members at these meetings. He saw at once 
that what might prove a wonderful power in the civic 
life of the nation was being misdirected into gatherings 
of pseudo-culture, where papers ill-digested and mostly 
copied from books were read and superficially discussed. 

Apparently the average club thought nothing of dis- 
posing of the works of the Victorian poets in one after- 
noon; the Italian Renaissance was " fully treated and 
most ably discussed," according to one programme, at 
a single meeting; Rembrandt and his school were like- 
wise disposed of in one afternoon, and German litera- 
ture was "adequately treated" at one session "in able 
papers." 

Bok gathered a mass of this material, and then paid 
his respects to it in the magazine. He recited his evi- 
dence and then expressed his opinion of it. He realized 
that his arraignment of the clubs would cost the maga- 

397 



298 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

zine hundreds of friends; but, convinced of the great 
power of the woman's club with its activities rightly di- 
rected, he concluded that he could afford to risk in- 
curring displeasure if he might point the way to more 
effective work. The one was worth the other. 

The displeasure was not slow in making itself mani- 
fest. It came to maturity overnight, as it were, and 
expressed itself in no uncertain terms. Every club 
flew to arms, and Bok was intensely interested to note 
that the clubs whose work he had taken as "horrible 
examples," although he had not mentioned their names, 
were the most strenuous in their denials of the methods 
outlined in the magazine, and that the members of 
those clubs were particularly heated in their attacks 
upon him. 

He soon found that he had stirred up quite as active 
a hornet's nest as he had anticipated. Letters by the 
hundred poured in attacking and reviling him. In 
nearly every case the writers fell back upon personal 
abuse, ignoring his arguments altogether. He became 
the subject of heated debates at club meetings, at con- 
ventions, in the public press; and soon long petitions 
demanding his removal as editor began to come to Mr. 
Curtis. These petitions were signed by hundreds of 
names. Bok read them with absorbed interest, and 
bided his time for action. Meanwhile he continued his 
articles of criticism in the magazine, and these, of course, 
added fuel to the conflagration. 

Former President Cleveland now came to Bok's side, 
and in an article in the magazine went even further 
than Bok bad ever thought of going in his criticism of 



WOMEN'S CLUBS AND WOMAN SUFFRAGE 299 

women's clubs. This article deflected the criticism from 
Bok momentarily, and Mr. Cleveland received a grilling 
to which his experiences in the White House were "as 
child's play," as he expressed it. The two men, the 
editor and the former President, were now bracketed as 
copartners in crime in the eyes of the club-women, and 
nothing too harsh could be found to say or write of 
either. 

Meanwhile Bok had been watching the petitions for 
his removal which kept coming in. He was looking 
for an opening, and soon found it. One of the most 
prominent women's clubs sent a protest condemning 
his attitude and advising him by resolutions, which 
were enclosed, that unless he ceased his attacks, the 

members of the Woman's Club had resolved "to 

unitedly and unanimously boycott The Ladies' Home 
Journal and had already put the plan into effect with the 
current issue." 

Bok immediately engaged counsel in the city where 
the club was situated, and instructed his lawyer to begin 
proceedings, for violation of the Sherman Act, against 
the president and the secretary of the club, and three 
other members; counsel to take particular pains to 
choose, if possible, the wives of three lawyers. 

Within forty-eight hours Bok heard from the husbands 
of the five wives, who pointed out to him that the 
women had acted in entire ignorance of the law, and sug- 
gested a reconsideration of his action. Bok replied 
by quoting from the petition which set forth that it 

was signed "by the most intelligent women of who 

were thoroughly versed in civic and national affairs"; 



3oo THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

and if this were true, Bok argued, it naturally followed 
that they must have been cognizant of a legislative 
measure so well known and so widely discussed as the 
Sherman Act. He was basing his action, he said, 
merely on their declaration. 

Bok could easily picture to himself the chagrin and 
wrath of the women, with the husbands laughing up 
their sleeves at the turn of affairs. "My wife never 
could see the humor in the situation/ ' said one of these 
husbands to Bok, when he met him years later. Bok 
capitulated, and then apparently with great reluctance, 
only when the club sent him an official withdrawal of 
the protest and an apology for "its ill-considered ac- 
tion." It was years after that one of the members of 
the club, upon meeting Bok, said to him: "Your 
action did not increase the club's love for you, but you 
taught it a much-needed lesson which it never forgot." 

Up to this time, Bok had purposely been destructive 
in his criticism. Now, he pointed out a constructive 
plan whereby the woman's club could make itself a power 
in every community. He advocated less of the cultural 
and more of the civic interest, and urged that the clubs 
study the numerous questions dealing with the life of 
their communities. This seems strange, in view of the 
enormous amount of civic work done by women's clubs 
to-day. But at that time, when the woman's club 
movement was unformed, these civic matters found but 
a small part in the majority of programmes; in a num- 
ber of cases none at all. 

Of course, the clubs refused to accept or even to con- 
sider his suggestions; they were quite competent to 



WOMEN'S CLUBS AND WOMAN SUFFRAGE 301 

decide for themselves the particular subjects for their 
meetings, they argued; they did not care to be tutored 
or guided, particularly by Bok. They were much too 
angry with him even to admit that his suggestions were 
practical and in order. But he knew, of course, that 
they would adopt them of their own volition — under 
cover, perhaps, but that made no difference, so long 
as the end was accomplished. One club after another, 
during the following years, changed its programme, 
and soon the supposed cultural interest had yielded first 
place to the needful civic questions. 

For years, however, the clubwomen of America did 
not forgive Bok. They refused to buy or countenance 
his magazine, and periodically they attacked it or made 
light of it. But he knew he had made his point, and 
was content to leave it to time to heal the wounds. 
This came years afterward, when Mrs. Pennypacker 
became president of the General Federation of Women's 
Clubs and Mrs. Rudolph Blankenburg, vice-president. 

Those two far-seeing women and Bok arranged that 
an official department of the Federation should find 
a place in The Ladies' Home Journal, with Mrs. Penny- 
packer as editor and Mrs. Blankenburg, who lived in 
Philadelphia, as the resident consulting editor. The 
idea was arranged agreeably to all three; the Federation 
officially endorsed its president's suggestion, and for 
several years the department was one of the most suc- 
cessful in the magazine. 

The breach had been healed; two powerful forces 
were working together, as they should, for the mutual 
good of the American woman. No relations could have 



302 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

been pleasanter than those between the editor-in-chief 
of the magazine and the two departmental editors. The 
report was purposely set afloat that Bok had withdrawn 
from his position of antagonism (?) toward women's 
clubs, and this gave great satisfaction to thousands of 
women club-members and made everybody happy ! 

At this time the question of suffrage for women was 
fast becoming a prominent issue, and naturally Bok was 
asked to take a stand on the question in his magazine. 
No man sat at a larger gateway to learn the sentiments 
of numbers of women on any subject. He read his vast 
correspondence carefully. He consulted women of every 
grade of intelligence and in every station in life. Then 
he caused a straw- vote to be taken among a selected list 
of thousands of his subscribers in large cities and in 
small towns. The result of all these inquiries was most 
emphatic and clear: by far the overwhelming majority 
of the women approached either were opposed to the 
ballot or were indifferent to it. Those who desired to 
try the experiment were negligible in number. So far 
as the sentiment of any wide public can be secured on 
any given topic, this seemed to be the dominant opinion. 

Bok then instituted a systematic investigation of con- 
ditions in those states where women had voted for years; 
but he could not see, from a thoughtful study of his in- 
vestigations, that much had been accomplished. The 
results certainly did not measure up to the prophecies 
constantly advanced by the advocates of a nation-wide 
equal suffrage. 

The editor now carefully looked into the speeches of 
the suffragists, examined the platform of the National 



WOMEN'S CLUBS AND WOMAN SUFFRAGE 303 

body in favor of woman suffrage, and talked at length 
with such leaders in the movement as Susan B. Anthony, 
Julia Ward Howe, Anna Howard Shaw, and Jane 
Addams. 

All this time Bok had kept his own mind open. He 
was ready to have the magazine, for whose editorial 
policy he was responsible, advocate that side of the issue 
which seemed for the best interests of the American 
woman. 

The arguments that a woman should not have a vote 
because she was a woman; that it would interfere with 
her work in the home; that it would make her more 
masculine; that it would take her out of her own home; 
that it was a blow at domesticity and an actual men- 
ace to the home life of America — these did not weigh 
with him. There was only one question for him to 
settle: Was the ballot something which, in its demon- 
strated value or in its potentiality, would serve the best 
interests of American womanhood ? 

After all his investigations of both sides of the ques- 
tion, Bok decided upon a negative answer. He felt that 
American women were not ready to exercise the privilege 
intelligently and that their mental attitude was against it. 

Forthwith he said so in his magazine. And the storm 
broke. The denunciations brought down upon him 
by his attitude toward woman's clubs was as nothing 
compared to what was now let loose. The attacks were 
bitter. His arguments were ignored; and the suffragists 
evidently decided to concentrate their criticisms upon 
the youthful years of the editor. They regarded this as 
a most vulnerable point of attack, and reams of paper 



304 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

were used to prove that the opinion of a man so young 
in years and so necessarily unformed in his judgment 
was of no value. 

Unfortunately, the suffragists did not know, when 
they advanced this argument, that it would be over- 
thrown by the endorsement of Bok's point of view by 
such men and women of years and ripe judgment as 
Doctor Eliot, then president of Harvard University, 
former President Cleveland, Lyman Abbott, Margaret 
Deland, and others. When articles by these opponents 
to suffrage appeared, the argument of youth hardly held 
good; and the attacks of the suffragists were quickly 
shifted to the ground of "narrow-mindedness and old- 
fashioned fogyism." 

The article by former President Cleveland particu- 
larly stirred the ire of the attacking suffragists, and Miss 
Anthony hurled a broadside at the former President in a 
newspaper interview. Unfortunately for her best judg- 
ment, and the strength of her argument, the attack 
became intensely personal; and of course, nullified its 
force. But it irritated Mr. Cleveland, who called Bok 
to his Princeton home and read him a draft of a proposed 
answer for publication in Bok's magazine. 

Those who knew Mr. Cleveland were well aware of 
the force that he could put into his pen when he chose, 
and in this proposed article he certainly chose! It 
would have made very unpleasant reading for Miss 
Anthony in particular, as well as for her friends. Bok 
argued strongly against the article. He reminded Mr. 
Cleveland that it would be undignified to make such 
an answer; that it was always an unpopular thing to 



WOMEN'S CLUBS AND WOMAN SUFFRAGE 305 

attack a woman in public, especially a woman who was 
old and ill; that she would again strive for the last word; 
that there would be no point to the controversy and noth- 
ing gained by it. He pleaded with Mr. Cleveland to 
meet Miss Anthony's attack by a dignified silence. 

These arguments happily prevailed. In reality, Mr. 
Cleveland was not keen to attack Miss Anthony or any 
other woman; such a thought was foreign to his nature. 
He summed up his feeling to Bok when he tore up the 
draft of his article and smilingly said: "Well, I've got 
it off my chest, that is the main thing. I wanted to 
get it out of my system, and talking it over has driven 
it out. It is better in the fire," and he threw the torn 
paper into the open grate. 

As events turned out, it was indeed fortunate that the 
matter had been so decided; for the article would have 
appeared in the number of Bok's magazine published 
on the day that Miss Anthony passed away. It would 
have been a most unfortunate moment, to say the least, 
for the appearance of an attack such as Mr. Cleveland 
had in mind. 

This incident, like so many instances that might be 
adduced, points with singular force to the value of that 
editorial discrimination which the editor often makes 
between what is wise or unwise for him to publish. 
Bok realized that had he encouraged Mr. Cleveland to 
publish the article, he could have exhausted any edition 
he might have chosen to print. Times without number, 
editors make such decisions directly against what would 
be of temporary advantage to their publications. The 
public never hears of these incidents. 



306 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

More often than not the editor hears "stories" that, 
if printed, would be a "scoop" which would cause his 
publication to be talked about from one end of the coun- 
try to the other. The public does not give credit to the 
editor, particularly of the modern newspaper, for the 
high code of honor which constantly actuates him in his 
work. The prevailing notion is that an editor prints 
all that he knows, and much that he does not know. 
Outside of those in the inner government circles, no 
group of men, during the Great War, had more informa- 
tion of a confidential nature constantly given or brought 
to them, and more zealously guarded it, than the editors 
of the newspapers of America. Among no other set of 
professional men is the code of honor so high; and woe 
betide the journalist who, in the eyes of his fellow-work- 
ers, violates, even in the slightest degree, that code of 
editorial ethics. Public men know how true is this 
statement; the public at large, however, has not the 
first conception of it. If it had, it would have a much 
higher opinion of its periodicals and newspapers. 

At this juncture, Rudyard Kipling unconsciously 
came into the very centre of the suffragists' maelstrom of 
attack when he sent Bok his famous poem: "The Fe- 
male of the Species." The suffragists at once took the 
argument in the poem as personal to themselves, and 
now Kipling got the full benefit of their vitriolic abuse. 
Bok sent a handful of these criticisms to Kipling, who 
was very gleeful about them. "I owe you a good laugh 
over the clippings," he wrote. "They were delightful. 
But what a quantity of spare time some people in this 
world have to burn !" 



WOMEN'S CLUBS AND WOMAN SUFFRAGE 307 

It was a merry time; and the longer it continued 
the more heated were the attacks. The suffragists 
now had a number of targets, and they took each in 
turn and proceeded to riddle it. That Bok was publish- 
ing articles explaining both sides of the question, pre- 
senting arguments by the leading suffragists as well as 
known anti-suffragists, did not matter in the least. 
These were either conveniently overlooked, or, when 
referred to at all, were considered in the light of "sops" 
to the offended women. 

At last Bok reached the stage where he had exhausted 
all the arguments worth printing, on both sides of the 
question, and soon the storm calmed down. 

It was always a matter of gratification to him that the 
woman who had most bitterly assailed him during the 
suffrage controversy, Anna Howard Shaw, became in 
later years one of his stanchest friends, and was an 
editor on his pay-roll. When the United States entered 
the Great War, Bok saw that Doctor Shaw had under- 
taken a gigantic task in promising, as chairman, to direct 
the activities of the National Council for Women. He 
went to see her in Washington, and offered his help and 
that of the magazine. Doctor Shaw, kindliest of 
women in her nature, at once accepted the offer; Bok 
placed the entire resources of the magazine and of its 
Washington editorial force at her disposal; and all 
through America's participation in the war, she success- 
fully conducted a monthly department in The Ladies' 
Home Journal. 

"Such help," she wrote at the close, "as you and 
your associates have extended me and my co-workers; 



308 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

such unstinted co-operation and such practical guidance 
I never should have dreamed possible. You made your 
magazine a living force in our work; we do not see now 
how we would have done without it. You came into 
our activities at the psychological moment, when we 
most needed what you could give us, and none could 
have given with more open hands and fuller hearts." 

So the contending forces in a bitter word-war came to- 
gether and worked together, and a mutual regard sprang 
up between the woman and the man who had once so 
radically differed. 



CHAPTER XXVIII 
GOING HOME WITH KIPLING, AND AS A LECTURER 

It was in June, 1899, when Rudyard Kipling, after 
the loss of his daughter and his own almost fatal illness 
from pneumonia in America, sailed for his English home 
on the White Star liner, Teutonic, The party consisted 
of Kipling, his wife, his father J. Lockwood Kipling, 
Mr. and Mrs. Frank N. Doubleday, and Bok. It was 
only at the last moment that Bok decided to join the 
party, and the steamer having its full complement of 
passengers, he could only secure one of the officers' large 
rooms on the upper deck. Owing to the sensitive con- 
dition of Kipling's lungs, it was not wise for him to be 
out on deck except in the most favorable weather. The 
atmosphere of the smoking-room was forbidding, and 
as the rooms of the rest of the party were below deck, 
it was decided to make Bok's convenient room the head- 
quarters of the party. Here they assembled for the 
best part of each day; the talk ranged over literary and 
publishing matters of mutual interest, and Kipling 
promptly labelled the room "The Hatchery," — from the 
plans and schemes that were hatched during these dis- 
cussions. 

It was decided on the first day out that the party, too 
active-minded to remain inert for any length of time, 
should publish a daily newspaper to be written on large 
sheets of paper and to be read each evening to the group. 

309 



310 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

It was called The Teuton Tonic; Mr. Doubleday was 
appointed publisher and advertising manager; Mr. 
Lockwood Kipling was made art editor to embellish the 
news; Rudyard Kipling was the star reporter, and Bok 
was editor. 

Kipling, just released from his long confinement, like 
a boy out of school, was the life of the party — and when, 
one day, he found a woman aboard reading a copy of 
The Ladies' Home Journal his joy knew no bounds; he 
turned in the most inimitable "copy" to the Tonic, 
describing the woman's feelings as she read the differ- 
ent departments in the magazine. Of course, Bok, 
as editor of the Tonic, promptly pigeon-holed the re- 
porter's "copy"; then relented, and, in a fine spirit of 
large-mindedness, "printed" Kipling's paeans of rapture 
over Bok's subscriber. The preparation of the paper 
was a daily joy: it kept the different members busy, 
and each evening the copy was handed to "the large 
circle of readers" — the two women of the party — to 
read aloud. At the end of the sixth day, it was voted 
to "suspend publication," and the daily of six issues 
was unanimously bequeathed to the little daughter of 
Mr. Lockwood de Forest, a close friend of the Kipling 
family — a choice bit of Kiplingania. 

One day it was decided by the party that Bok should 
be taught the game of poker, and Kipling at once offered 
to be the instructor ! He wrote out a list of the " hands " 
for Bok's guidance, which was placed in the centre of the 
table, and the party, augmented by the women, gathered 
to see the game. 

A baby had been born that evening in the steerage, 



GOING HOME WITH KIPLING 311 

and it was decided to inaugurate a small " jack-pot" 
for the benefit of the mother. All went well until 
about the fourth hand, when Bok began to bid higher 
than had been originally planned. Kipling questioned 
the beginner's knowledge of the game and his tactics, 
but Bok retorted it was his money that he was putting 
into the pot and that no one was compelled to follow 
his bets if he did not choose to do so. Finally, the 
jack-pot assumed altogether too large dimensions for 
the party, Kipling " called" and Bok, true to the old 
idea of "beginner's luck" in cards, laid down a royal 
flush ! This was too much, and poker, with Bok in it, 
was taboo from that moment. Kipling's version of 
this card-playing does not agree in all particulars with 
the version here written. "Bok learned the game of 
poker," Kipling says; "had the deck stacked on him, 
and on hearing that there was a woman aboard who 
read The Ladies' Home Journal insisted on playing after 
that with the cabin-door carefully shut." But Kip- 
ling's art as a reporter for The Tonic was not as reliable 
as the art of his more careful book work. 

Bok derived special pleasure on this trip from his 
acquaintance with Father Kipling, as the party called 
him. Rudyard Kipling's respect for his father was the 
tribute of a loyal son to a wonderful father. 

"What annoys me," said Kipling, speaking of his 
father one day, "is when the pater comes to America 
to have him referred to in the newspapers as ( the father 
of Rudyard Kipling.' It is in India where they get the 
relation correct: there I am always 'the son of Lock- 
wood Kipling."' 



312 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

Father Kipling was, in every sense, a choice spirit: 
gentle, kindly, and of a most remarkably even tempera- 
ment. His knowedge of art, his wide reading, his ex- 
tensive travel, and an interest in every phase of the 
world's doings, made him a rare conversationalist, when 
inclined to talk, and an encyclopaedia of knowledge as 
extensive as it was accurate. It was very easy to grow 
fond of Father Kipling, and he won Bok's affection as 
few men ever did. 

Father Kipling's conversation was remarkable in that 
he was exceedingly careful of language and wasted few 
words. 

One day Kipling and Bok were engaged in a discus- 
sion of the Boer problem, which was then pressing. 
Father Kipling sat by listening, but made no comment 
on the divergent views, since, Kipling holding the Eng- 
lish side of the question and Bok the Dutch side, it 
followed that they could not agree. Finally Father 
Kipling arose and said: "Well, I will take a stroll and 
see if I can't listen to the water and get all this din out 
of my ears." 

Both men felt gently but firmly rebuked and the dis- 
cussion was never again taken up. 

Bok tried on one occasion to ascertain how the father 
regarded the son's work. 

"You should feel pretty proud of your son," remarked 
Bok. 

"A good sort," was the simple reply. 

"I mean, rather, of his work. How does that strike 
you?" asked Bok. 

" Which work?" 



GOING HOME WITH KIPLING 313 

"His work as a whole," explained Bok. 

"Creditable," was the succinct answer. 

"No more than that?" asked Bok. 

"Can there be more?" came from the father. 

"Well," said Bok, "the judgment seems a* little tame 
as applied to one who is generally regarded as a genius." 

"By whom?" 

"The critics, for instance," replied Bok. 

"There are no such," came the answer. 

"No such what, Mr. Kipling?" asked Bok. 

"Critics." 

"No critics?" 

"No," and for the first time the pipe was removed 
for a moment. "A critic is one who only exists as 
such in his own imagination." 

"But surely you must consider that Rud has done 
some great work ? " persisted Bok. 

"Creditable," came once more. 

"You think him capable of great work, do you not?" 
asked Bok. For a moment there was silence. Then: 

"He has a certain grasp of the human instinct. That, 
some day, I think, will lead him to write a great work." 

There was the secret: the constant holding up to the 
son, apparently, of something still to be accomplished; 
of a goal to be reached; of a higher standard to be at- 
tained. Rudyard Kipling was never in danger of un- 
intelligent laudation from his safest and most intelligent 
reader. 

During the years which intervened until his passing 
away, Bok sought to keep in touch with Father Kip- 
ling, and received the most wonderful letters from him. 



314 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

One day he enclosed in a letter a drawing which he had 
made showing Sakia Muni sitting under the bo-tree 
with two of his disciples, a young man and a young 
woman, gathered at his feet. It was a piece of exquisite 
drawing. "I like to think of you and your work in this 
way," wrote Mr. Kipling, "and so I sketched it for you." 
Bok had the sketch enlarged, engaged John La Farge to 
translate it into glass, and inserted it in a window in 
the living-room of his home at Merion. 

After Father Kipling had passed away, the express 
brought to Bok one day a beautiful plaque of red clay, 
showing the elephant's head, the lotus, and the swastika, 
which the father had made for the son. It was the 
original model of the insignia which, as a watermark, 
is used in the pages of Kipling's books and on the cover 
of the subscription edition. 

"I am sending with this for your acceptance," wrote 
Kipling to Bok, "as some little memory of my father to 
whom you were so kind, the original of one of the plaques 
that he used to make for me. I thought it being the 
swastika would be appropriate for your swastika. May 
it bring you even more good fortune." 

To those who knew Lockwood Kipling, it is easier to 
understand the genius and the kindliness of the son. 
For the sake of the public's knowledge, it is a distinct 
loss that there is not a better understanding of the real 
sweetness of character of the son. The public's only 
idea of the great writer is naturally one derived from 
writers who do not understand him, or from reporters 
whom he refused to see, while Kipling's own slogan is 
expressed in his own words: "I have always managed 




THE MEDALLION, DESIGNED BY MR. JOHN LOCKWOOD KIPLING FOR 

HIS SON, RUDYARD KIPLING, AND PRESENTED BY THE 

LATTER TO EDWARD BOK 

It is modelled in red clay 



GOING HOME WITH KIPLING 315 

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316 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

to keep clear of ' personal' things as much as possi- 
ble." 

It was on Bok's fiftieth birthday that Kipling sent 
him a copy of " If." Bok had greatly admired this poem, 
but knowing Kipling's distaste for writing out his own 
work, he had resisted the strong desire to ask him for a 
copy of it. It is significant of the author's remarkable 
memory that he wrote it, as he said, "from memory," 
years after its publication, and yet a comparison of the 
copy with the printed form, corrected by Kipling, fails 
to discover the difference of a single word. 

The lecture bureaus now desired that Edward Bok 
should go on the platform. Bok had never appeared 
in the role of a lecturer, but he reasoned that through 
the medium of the rostrum he might come in closer 
contact with the American public, meet his readers per- 
sonally, and secure some first-hand constructive criti- 
cism of his work. This last he was always encouraging. 
It was a naive conception of a lecture tour, but Bok 
believed it and he contracted for a tour beginning at 
Richmond, Virginia, and continuing through the South 
and Southwest as far as Saint Joseph, Missouri, and 
then back home by way of the Middle West. 

Large audiences greeted him wherever he went, but 
he had not gone far on his tour when he realized that 
he was not getting what he thought he would. There 
was much entertaining and lionizing, but nothing to 
help him in his work by pointing out to him where he 
could better it. He shrank from the pitiless publicity 
that was inevitable; he became more and more self- 



AS A LECTURER 317 

conscious when during the first five minutes on the 
stage he felt the hundreds of opera-classes levelled at 
him, and he and Mrs. Bok, who accompanied him, had 
not a moment to themselves from early morning to 
midnight. Yet his large correspondence was following 
him from the office, and the inevitable invitations in 
each city had at least to be acknowledged. Bok real- 
ized he had miscalculated the benefits of a lecture tour 
to his work, and began hopefully to wish for the ending 
of the circuit. 

One afternoon as he was returning with his man- 
ager from a large reception, the "impresario" said to 
him: "I don't like these receptions. They hurt the 
house. ,, 

"The house?" echoed Bok. 

"Yes, the attendance." 

"But you told me the house for this evening was sold 
out?" said the lecturer. 

"That is true enough. House, and even the stage. 
Not a seat unsold. But hundreds just come to see you 
and not to hear your lecture, and this exposure of a lec- 
turer at so crowded a reception as this, before the talk, 
satisfies the people without their buying a ticket. My 
rule is that a lecturer should not be seen in public be- 
fore his lecture, and I wish you would let me enforce the 
rule with you. It wears you out, anyway, and no re- 
ceptions until afterward will give you more time for 
yourself and save your vitality for the talk." 

Bok was entirely acquiescent. He had no personal 
taste for the continued round of functions, but he had 
accepted it as part of the game. 



318 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

The idea from this talk that impressed Bok, however, 
with particular force, was that the people who crowded 
his houses came to see him and not to hear his lecture. 
Personal curiosity, in other words. This was a new 
thought. He had been too busy to think of his per- 
sonality; now he realized a different angle to the situ- 
ation. And, much to his manager's astonishment, two 
days afterwards Bok refused to sign an agreement for 
another tour later in the year. He had had enough of 
exhibiting himself as a curiosity. He continued his 
tour; but before its conclusion fell ill — a misfortune with 
a pleasant side to it, for three of his engagements had 
to be cancelled. 

The Saint Joseph engagement could not be cancelled. 
The house had been oversold; it was for the benefit of a 
local charity which besought Bok by wire after wire to 
keep a postponed date. He agreed, and he went. He 
realized that he was not well, but he did not realize the 
extent of his mental and physical exhaustion until he 
came out on the platform and faced the crowded audi- 
torium. Barely sufficient space had been left for him 
and for the speaker's desk; the people on the stage were 
close to him, and he felt distinctly uncomfortable. 

Then, to his consternation, it suddenly dawned upon 
him that his tired mind had played a serious trick on 
him. He did not remember a line of his lecture; he 
could not even recall how it began ! He arose, after his 
introduction, in a bath of cold perspiration. The ap- 
plause gave him a moment to recover himself, but not a 
word came to his mind. He sparred for time by some 
informal prefatory remarks expressing regret at his 



AS A LECTURER 319 

illness and that he had been compelled to disappoint 
his audience a few days before, and then he stood help- 
less ! In sheer desperation he looked at Mrs. Bok sitting 
in the stage box, who, divining her husband's plight, 
motioned to the inside pocket of his coat. He put his 
hand there and pulled out a copy of his lecture which 
she had placed there! The whole tragic comedy had 
happened so quickly that the audience was absolutely 
unaware of what had occurred, and Bok went on and 
practically read his lecture. But it was not a successful 
evening for his audience or for himself, and the one was 
doubtless as glad when it was over as the other. 

When he reached home, he was convinced that he had 
had enough of lecturing ! He had to make a second short 
tour, however, for which he had contracted with an- 
other manager before embarking on the first. This 
tour took him to Indianapolis, and after the lecture, 
James Whitcomb Riley gave him a supper. There were 
some thirty men in the party; the affair was an exceed- 
ingly happy one; the happiest that Bok had attended. 
He said this to Riley on the way to the hotel. 

" Usually/ ' said Bok, "men, for some reason or other, 
hold aloof from me on these lecture tours. They stand 
at a distance and eye me, and I see wonder on their 
faces rather than a desire to mix." 

"You've noticed that, then?" smilingly asked the 
poet. 

"Yes, and I can't quite get it. At home, my friends 
are men. Why should it be different in other cities ? " 

"I'll tell you," said Riley. "Five or six of the men 
you met to-night were loath to come. When I pinned 



320 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

them down to their reason, it was as I thought: they 
regard you as an effeminate being, a sissy." 

"Good heavens!" interrupted Bok. 

"Fact," said Riley, "and you can't wonder at it 
nor blame them. You have been most industriously 
paragraphed, in countless jests, about your penchant 
for pink teas, your expert knowledge of tatting, crochet- 
ing, and all that sort of stuff. Look what Eugene Field 
has done in that direction. These paragraphs have, 
doubtless, been good advertising for your magazine, 
and, in a way, for you. But, on the other hand, they 
have given a false impression of you. Men have taken 
these paragraphs seriously and they think of you as the 
man pictured in them. It's a fact; I know. It's all 
right after they meet you and get your measure. The 
joke then is on them. Four of the men I fairly dragged 
to the dinner this evening said this to me just before I 
left. That is one reason why I advise you to keep on 
lecturing. Get around and show yourself, and correct 
this universal impression. Not that you can't stand 
what men think of you, but it's unpleasant." 

It was unpleasant, but Bok decided that the solu- 
tion as found in lecturing was worse than the miscon- 
ception. From that day to this he never lectured again. 

But the public conception of himself, especially that 
of men, awakened his interest and amusement. Some 
of his friends on the press were still busy with their para- 
graphs, and he promptly called a halt and asked them to 
desist. "Enough was as good as a feast," he told them, 
and explained why. 

One day Bok got a distinctly amusing line on himself 



AS A LECTURER 321 

from a chance stranger. He was riding from Washing- 
ton to Philadelphia in the smoking compartment, 
when the newsboy stuck his head in the door and yelled : 
" Ladies 1 Home Journal, out to-day." He had heard this 
many times before; but on this particular day, upon 
hearing the title of his own magazine yelled almost in 
his ears, he gave an involuntary start. 

Opposite to him sat a most companionable young fel- 
low, who, noticing Bok's start, leaned over and with a 
smile said: "I know, I know just how you feel. That's 
the way I feel whenever I hear the name of that damned 
magazine. Here, boy," he called to the retreating 
magazine-carrier, "give me a copy of that Ladies' Home 
Disturber: I might as well buy it here as in the station." 

Then to Bok: "Honest, if I don't bring home that 
sheet on the day it is out, the wife is in a funk. She 
runs her home by it literally. Same with you?" 

"The same," answered Bok. "As a matter of fact, 
in our family, we live by it, on it, and from it." 

Bok's neighbor, of course, couldn't get the real point 
of this, but he thought he had it. 

"Exactly," he replied. "So do we. That fellow 
Bok certainly has the women buffaloed for good. Ever 
see him ? " 

"Oh, yes," answered Bok. 

"Live in Philadelphia?" 

"Yes." 

"There's where the thing is published, all right. 
What does Bok look like?" 

"Oh," answered Bok carelessly, "just like, well, like 
all of us. In fact, he looks something like me." 



322 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

" Does he, now ? " echoed the man. " Shouldn't think 
it would make you very proud!" 

And, the train pulling in at Baltimore, Bok's genial 
neighbor sent him a hearty good-bye and ran out with 
the much-maligned magazine under his arm ! 

He had an occasion or two now to find out what women 
thought of him ! 

He was leaving the publication building one evening 
after office hours when just as he opened the front door, 
a woman approached. Bok explained that the building 
was closed. 

"Well, I am sorry," said the woman in a dejected 
tone, "for I don't think I can manage to come again." 

"Is there anything I can do?" asked Bok. "I am 
employed here." 

"No-o," said the woman. "I came to see Mr. Curtis 
on a personal matter." 

"I shall see him this evening," suggested Bok, "and 
can give him a message for you if you like." 

"Well, I don't know if you can. I came to com- 
plain to him about Mr. Bok," announced the woman. 

"Oh, well," answered Bok, with a slight start at the 
matter-of-fact announcement, "that is serious; quite 
serious. If you will explain your complaint, I will 
surely see that it gets to Mr. Curtis." 

Bok's interest grew. 

"Well, you see," said the woman, "it is this way. I 
live in a three-family flat. Here is my name and card," 
and a card came out of a bag. "I subscribe to The 
Ladies 1 Home Journal. It is delivered at my house each 
month by Mr. Bok. Now I have told that man three 



AS A LECTURER 323 

times over that when he delivers the magazine, he 
must ring the bell twice. But he just persists in ring- 
ing once and then that cat who lives on the first floor 
gets my magazine, reads it, and keeps it sometimes 
for three days before I get it ! Now, I want Mr. Curtis 
to tell Mr. Bok that he must do as I ask and ring the bell 
twice. Can you give him that message for me ? There's 
no use talking to Mr. Bok; Fve done that, as I say." 

And Bok solemnly assured his subscriber that he 
would ! 

Bok's secretary told him one day that there was in 
the outer office the most irate woman he had ever tried 
to handle; that he had tried for half an hour to appease 
her, but it was of no use. She threatened to remain 
until Bok admitted her, and see him she would, and tell 
him exactly what she thought of him. The secretary 
looked as if he had been through a struggle. "It's 
hopeless," he said. "Will you see her?" 

"Certainly," said Bok. "Show her in." 

The moment the woman came in, she began a perfect 
torrent of abuse. Bok could not piece out, try as he 
might, what it was all about. But he did gather from 
the explosion that the woman considered him a hypo- 
crite who wrote one thing and did another; that he was 
really a thief, stealing a woman's money, and so forth. 
There was no chance of a word for fully fifteen minutes 
and then, when she was almost breathless, Bok managed 
to ask if his caller would kindly tell him just what he 
had done. 

Another torrent of incoherent abuse came forth, 
but after a while it became apparent that the woman's 



324 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

complaint was that she had sent a dollar for a subscrip- 
tion to The Ladies' Home Journal; had never had a 
copy of the magazine, had complained, and been told 
there was no record of the money being received. And 
as she had sent her subscription to Bok personally, he 
had purloined the dollar ! 

It was fully half an hour before Bok could explain 
to the irate woman that he never remembered receiving 
a letter from her; that subscriptions, even when per- 
sonally addressed to him, did not come to his desk, etc.; 
that if she would leave her name and address he would 
have the matter investigated. Absolutely unconvinced 
that anything would be done, and unaltered in her 
opinion about Bok, the woman finally left. 

Two days later a card was handed in to the editor 
with a note asking him to see for a moment the hus- 
band of his irate caller. When the man came in, 
he looked sheepish and amused in turn, and finally 
said: 

"I hardly know what to say, because I don't know 
what my wife said to you. But if what she said to me 
is any index of her talk with you, I want to apologize 
for her most profoundly. She isn't well, and we shall 
both have to let it go at that. As for her subscription, 
you, of course, never received it, for, with difficulty, 
I finally extracted the fact from her that she pinned a 
dollar bill to a postal card and dropped it in a street 
postal box. And she doesn't yet see that she has done 
anything extraordinary, or that she had a faith in Uncle 
Sam that I call sublime." 

The Journal had been calling the attention of its 



AS A LECTURER 325 

readers to the defacement of the landscape by billboard 
advertisers. One day on his way to New York he 
found himself sitting in a sleeping-car section opposite 
a woman and her daughter. 

The mother was looking at the landscape when sud- 
denly she commented: 

"There are some of those ugly advertising signs that 
Mr. Bok says are such a defacement to the landscape. 
I never noticed them before, but he is right, and I am 
going to write and tell him so." 

"Oh, mamma, don't," said the girl. "That man is 
pampered enough by women. Don't make him worse. 
Ethel says he is now the vainest man in America." 

Bok's eyes must have twinkled, and just then the 
mother looked at him, caught his eye; she gave a little 
gasp, and Bok saw that she had telepathically discov- 
ered him ! 

He smiled, raised his hat, presented his card to the 
mother, and said: "Excuse me, but I do want to defend 
myself from that last statement, if I may. I couldn't 
help overhearing it." 

The mother, a woman of the world, read the name on 
the card quickly and smiled, but the daughter's face 
was a study as she leaned over and glanced at the card. 
She turned scarlet and then white. 

"Now, do tell me," asked Bok of the daughter, "who 
' Ethel' is, so that I may try at least to prove that I am 
not what she thinks." 

The daughter was completely flustered. For the 
rest of the journey, however, the talk was informal; 
the girl became more at ease, and Bok ended by dining 



326 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

with the mother and daughter at their hotel that even- 
ing. 

But he never found out "Ethel's" other name! 

There were curiously amusing sides to a man's edi- 
torship of a woman's magazine ! 



CHAPTER XXIX 

AN EXCURSION INTO THE FEMININE NATURE 

The strangling hold which the Paris couturiers had 
secured on the American woman in their absolute dicta- 
tion as to her fashions in dress, had interested Edward 
Bok for some time. As he studied the question, he was 
constantly amazed at the audacity with which these 
French dressmakers and milliners, often themselves of 
little taste and scant morals, cracked the whip, and 
the docility with which the American woman blindly 
and unintelligently danced to their measure. The 
deeper he went into the matter, too, the more deceit 
and misrepresentation did he find in the situation. It 
was inconceivable that the American woman should 
submit to what was being imposed upon her if she knew 
the facts. He determined that she should. The proc- 
ess of Americanization going on within him decided 
him to expose the Paris conditions and advocate and 
present American-designed fashions for women. 

The Journal engaged the best-informed woman in Paris 
frankly to lay open the situation to the American women; 
shetproved that the designs sent over by the so-called 
Paris arbiters of fashion were never worn by the French- 
woman of birth and good taste; that they were especially 
designed and specifically intended for "the bizarre 
American trade," as one polite Frenchman called it; 
and that the only women in Paris who wore these 

327 



328 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

grotesque and often immoderate styles were of the 
demimonde. 

This article was the opening gun of the campaign, 
and this was quickly followed by a second equally con- 
vincing — both articles being written from the inside of 
the gilded circles of the couturiers' shops. Madame 
Sarah Bernhardt was visiting the United States at the 
time, and Bok induced the great actress to verify the 
statements printed. She went farther and expressed 
amazement at the readiness with which the American 
woman had been duped; and indicated her horror on 
seeing American women of refined sensibilities and posi- 
tion dressed in the gowns of the declasse street-women of 
Paris. The somewhat sensational nature of the articles 
attracted the attention of the American newspapers, 
which copied and commented on them; the gist of them 
was cabled over to Paris, and, of course, the Paris 
couturiers denied the charges. But their denials were 
in general terms; and no convincing proof of the falsity 
of the charges was furnished. The French couturier 
simply resorted to a shrug of the shoulder and a 
laugh, implying that the accusations were beneath his 
notice. 

Bok now followed the French models of dresses and 
millinery to the United States, and soon found that for 
every genuine Parisian model sold in the large cities at 
least ten were copies, made in New York shops, but with 
the labels of the French dressmakers and milliners sewed 
on them. He followed the labels to their source, and 
discovered a firm one of whose specialties was the making 
of these labels bearing the names of the leading French 



EXCURSION INTO THE FEMININE NATURE 329 

designers. They were manufactured by the gross, and 
sold in bundles to the retailers. Bok secured a list of 
the buyers of these labels and found that they represented 
some of the leading merchants throughout the country. 
All these facts he published. The retailers now sprang 
up in arms and denied the charges, but again the denials 
were in general terms. Bok had the facts and they knew 
it. These facts were too specific and too convincing to 
be controverted. 

The editor had now presented a complete case be- 
fore the women of America as to the character of the 
Paris-designed fashions and the manner in which women 
were being hoodwinked in buying imitations. 

Meanwhile, he had engaged the most expert designers 
in the world of women's dress and commissioned them 
to create American designs. He sent one of his editors 
to the West to get first-hand motifs from Indian cos- 
tumes and adapt them as decorative themes for dress 
embroideries. Three designers searched the Metro- 
politan Museum for new and artistic ideas, and he in- 
duced his company to install a battery of four-color 
presses in order that the designs might be given in all 
the beauty of their original colors. For months de- 
signers and artists worked; he had the designs passed 
upon by a board of judges composed of New York 
women who knew good clothes, and then he began their 
publication. 

The editor of The New York Times asked Bok to con- 
duct for that newspaper a prize contest for the best 
American-designed dresses and hats, and edit a special 
supplement presenting them in full colors, the prizes 



330 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

to be awarded by a jury of six of the leading New York 
women best versed in matters of dress. Hundreds of 
designs were submitted, the best were selected, and the 
supplement issued under the most successful auspices. 

In his own magazine, Bok published pages of Ameri- 
can-designed fashions: their presence in the magazine 
was advertised far and wide; conventions of dressmakers 
were called to consider the salability of domestic-de- 
signed fashions; and a campaign with the slogan "Amer- 
ican Fashions for American Women" was soon in full 
swing. 

But there it ended. The women looked the designs 
over with interest, as they did all designs of new clothes, 
and paid no further attention to them. The very fact 
that they were of American design prejudiced the wo- 
men against them. America never had designed good 
clothes, they argued: she never would. Argument 
availed naught. The Paris germ was deep-rooted in the 
feminine mind of America: the women acknowledged 
that they were, perhaps, being hoodwinked by spurious 
French dresses and hats; that the case presented by 
Bok seemed convincing enough, but the temptation to 
throw a coat over a sofa or a chair to expose a Parisian 
label to the eyes of some other woman was too great; 
there was always a gambling chance that her particular 
gown, coat, or hat was an actual Paris creation. 

Bok called upon the American woman to come out 
from under the yoke of the French couturiers, show her 
patriotism, and encourage American design. But it 
was of no use. He talked with women on every hand; 
his mail was full of letters commending him for his 



EXCURSION INTO THE FEMININE NATURE 331 

stand; but as for actual results, there were none. One 
of his most intelligent woman-friends finally summed 
up the situation for him: 

"You can rail against the Paris domination all you 
like; you can expose it for the fraud that it is, and we 
know that it is; but it is all to no purpose, take my 
word. When it comes to the question of her personal 
adornment, a woman employs no reason; she knows 
no logic. She knows that the adornment of her body 
is all that she has to match the other woman and outdo 
her, and to attract the male, and nothing that you can 
say will influence her a particle. I know this all seems 
incomprehensible to you as a man, but that is the 
feminine nature. You are trying to fight something that 
is unfightable." 

"Has the American woman no instinct of patriotism, 
then?" asked Bok. 

"Not the least," was the answer, "when it comes to her 
adornment. What Paris says, she will do, blindly 
and unintelligently if you will, but she will do it. She 
will sacrifice her patriotism; she will even justify a 
possible disregard of the decencies. Look at the present 
Parisian styles. They are absolutely indecent. Women 
know it, but they follow them just the same, and they 
will. It is all very unpleasant to say this, but it is the 
truth and you will find it out. Your effort, fine as it is, 
will bear no fruit." 

Wherever Bok went, women upon whose judgment 
he felt he could rely, told him, in effect, the same thing. 
They were all regretful, in some cases ashamed of their 
sex, universally apologetic; but one and all declared 



332 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

that such is "the feminine nature," and Bok would 
only have his trouble for nothing. 

And so it proved. For a period, the retail shops were 
more careful in the number of genuine French models 
of gowns and hats which they exhibited, and the label 
firm confessed that its trade had fallen off. But this 
was only temporary. Within a year after The Journal 
stopped the campaign, baffled and beaten, the trade 
in French labels was greater than ever, hundreds of 
French models were sold that had never crossed the 
ocean, the American woman was being hoodwinked on 
every hand, and the reign of the French couturier was 
once more supreme. 

There was no disguising the fact that the case was 
hopeless, and Bok recognized and accepted the inevitable. 
He had, at least, the satisfaction of having made an 
intelligent effort to awaken the American woman to 
her unintelligent submission. But she refused to be 
awakened. She preferred to be a tool: to be made a 
fool of. 

Bok's probe into the feminine nature had been keenly 
disappointing. He had earnestly tried to serve the 
American woman, and he had failed. But he was 
destined to receive a still greater and deeper disappoint- 
ment on his next excursion into the feminine nature, 
although, this time, he was to win. 

During his investigations into women's fashions, he 
had unearthed the origin of the fashionable aigrette, 
the most desired of all the feathered possessions of 
womankind. He had been told of the cruel torture of 
the mother-heron, who produced the beautiful aigrette 



EXCURSION INTO THE FEMININE NATURE 333 

only in her period of maternity and who was cruelly 
slaughtered, usually left to die slowly rather than killed, 
leaving her whole nest of baby-birds to starve while 
they awaited the return of the mother-bird. 

Bok was shown the most heart-rending photographs 
portraying the butchery of the mother and the starva- 
tion of her little ones. He collected all the photographs 
that he could secure, had the most graphic text written 
to them, and began their publication. He felt certain 
that the mere publication of the frightfully convincing 
photographs would be enough to arouse the mother- 
instinct in every woman and stop the wearing of the so- 
highly prized feather. But for the second time in his 
attempt to reform the feminine nature he reckoned 
beside the mark. 

He published a succession of pages showing the fright- 
ful cost at which the aigrette was secured. There was 
no challenging the actual facts as shown by the photo- 
graphic lens: the slaughter of the mother-bird, and the 
starving baby-birds; and the importers of the feather 
wisely remained quiet, not attempting to answer Bok's 
accusations. Letters poured in upon the editor from 
Audubon Society workers; from lovers of birds, and 
from women rilled with the humanitarian instinct. 
But Bok knew that the answer was not with those few: 
the solution lay with the larger circle of American wo- 
manhood from which he did not hear. 

He waited for results. They came. But they were 
not those for which he had striven. After four months of 
his campaign, he learned from the inside of the importing- 
houses which dealt in the largest stocks of aigrettes in the 



334 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

United States that the demand for the feather had more 
than quadrupled! Bok was dumbfounded! He made 
inquiries in certain channels from which he knew he could 
secure the most reliable information, and after all the 
importers had been interviewed, the conviction was un- 
escapable that just in proportion as Bok had dwelt upon 
the desirability of the aigrette as the hallmark of wealth 
and fashion, upon its expense, and the fact that women 
regarded it as the last word in feminine adornment, he 
had by so much made these facts familiar to thousands 
of women who had never before known of them, and had 
created the desire to own one of the precious feathers. 

Bok could not and would not accept these conclusions. 
It seemed to him incredible that women would go so far 
as this in the question of personal adornment. He 
caused the increased sales to be traced from wholesaler 
to retailer, and from retailer to customer, and was 
amazed at the character and standing of the latter. He 
had a number of those buyers who lived in adjacent cities, 
privately approached and interviewed, and ascertained 
that, save in two instances, they were all his readers, 
had seen the gruesome pictures he had presented, and 
then had deliberately purchased the coveted aigrette. 

Personally again he sought the most intelligent of his 
woman-friends, talked with scores of others, and found 
himself facing the same trait in feminine nature which he 
had encountered in his advocacy of American fashions. 
But this time it seemed to Bok that the facts he had 
presented went so much deeper. 

"It will be hard for you to believe," said one of his 
most trusted woman-friends. " I grant your arguments : 



EXCURSION INTO THE FEMININE NATURE 335 

there is no gainsaying them. But you are fighting the 
same thing again that you do not understand: the 
feminine nature that craves outer adornment will secure 
it at any cost, even at the cost of suffering." 

" Yes," argued Bok. "But if there is one thing above 
everything else that we believe a woman feels and 
understands, it is the mother-instinct. Do you mean 
to tell me that it means nothing to her that these birds 
are killed in their period of motherhood, and that a 
whole nest of starving baby-birds is the price of every 
aigrette ?" 

"I won't say that this does not weigh with a woman. 
It does, naturally. But when it comes to her posses- 
sion of an ornament of beauty, as beautiful as the ai- 
grette, it weighs with her, but it doesn't tip the scale 
against her possession of it. I am sorry to have to say 
this to you, but it is a fact. A woman will regret that 
the mother-bird must be tortured and her babies starve, 
but she will have the aigrette. She simply trains her- 
self to forget the origin. 

"Take my own case. You will doubtless be shocked 
when I tell you that I was perfectly aware of the condi- 
tions under which the aigrette is obtained before you 
began your exposure of the method. But did it prevent 
my purchase of one? Not at all. Why? Because I 
am a woman: I realize that no head ornament will set 
off my hair so well as an aigrette. Say I am cruel if 
you like. I wish the heron-mother didn't have to be 
killed or the babies starve, but, Mr. Bok, I must have my 
beautiful aigrette ! " 

Bok was frankly astounded: he had certainly probed 



336 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

deep this time into the feminine nature. With every 
desire and instinct to disbelieve the facts, the deeper his 
inquiries went, the stronger the evidence rolled up: 
there was no gainsaying it; no sense in a further dis- 
belief of it. 

But Bok was determined that this time he would not 
fail. His sense of justice and protection to the mother- 
bird and her young was now fully aroused. He resolved 
that he would, by compulsion, bring about what he had 
failed to do by persuasion. He would make it impossi- 
ble for women to be untrue to their most sacred instinct. 
He sought legal talent, had a bill drawn up making it a 
misdemeanor to import, sell, purchase, or wear an ai- 
grette. Armed with this measure, and the photographs 
and articles which he had published, he sought and ob- 
tained the interest and promise of support of the most 
influential legislators in several States. He felt a sense 
of pride in his own sex that he had no trouble in winning 
the immediate interest of every legislator with whom he 
talked. 

Where he had failed with women, he was succeeding 
with men! The outrageous butchery of the birds and 
the circumstances under which they were tortured ap- 
pealed with direct force to the sporting instinct in every 
man, and aroused him. Bok explained to each that he 
need expect no support for such a measure from women 
save from the members of the Audubon Societies, and 
a few humanitarian women and bird-lovers. Women, 
as a whole, he argued from his experiences, while they 
would not go so far as openly to oppose such a measure, 
for fear of public comment, would do nothing to further 



EXCURSION INTO THE FEMININE NATURE 337 

its passage, for in their hearts they preferred failure to 
success for the legislation. They had frankly told him 
so : he was not speaking from theory. 

In one State after another Bok got into touch with 
legislators. He counselled, in each case, a quiet passage 
for the measure instead of one that would draw public 
attention to it. 

Meanwhile, a strong initiative had come from the 
Audubon Societies throughout the country, and from 
the National Association of Audubon Societies, at New 
York, This latter society also caused to be introduced 
bills of its own to the same and in various legislatures, 
and here Bok had a valuable ally. It was a curious 
fact that the Audubon officials encountered their 
strongest resistance in Bok's own State: Pennsylvania. 
But Bok's personal acquaintance with legislators in his 
Keystone State helped here materially. 

The demand for the aigrette constantly increased and 
rose to hitherto unknown figures. In one State where 
Bok's measure was pending before the legislature, he 
heard of the coming of an unusually large shipment of 
aigrettes to meet this increased demand. He wired the 
legislator in charge of the measure apprising him of this 
fact, of what he intended to do, and urging speed in 
securing the passage of the bill. Then he caused the 
shipment to be seized at the dock on the ground of illegal 
importation. 

The importing firm at once secured an injunction 
restraining the seizure. Bok replied by serving a writ 
setting the injunction aside. The lawyers of the im- 
porters got busy, of course, but meanwhile the legislator 



338 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

had taken advantage of a special evening session, 
had the bill passed, and induced the governor to sign 
it, the act taking effect at once. 

This was exactly what Bok had been playing for. The 
aigrettes were now useless; they could not be reshipped 
to another State, they could not be offered for sale. 
The suit was dropped, and Bok had the satisfaction of 
seeing the entire shipment, valued at $160,000, destroyed. 
He had not saved the lives of the mother-birds, but, at 
least, he had prevented hundreds of American women 
from wearing the hallmark of torture. 

State after State now passed an aigrette-prohibition 
law until fourteen of the principal States, including prac- 
tically all the large cities, fell into line. 

Later, the National Association of Audubon Societies 
had introduced into the United States Congress and 
passed a bill prohibiting the importation of bird-feathers 
into the country, thus bringing a Federal law into ex- 
istence. 

Bok had won his fight, it is true, but he derived little 
satisfaction from the character of his victory. His 
ideal of womanhood had received a severe jolt. Women 
had revealed their worst side to him, and he did not like 
the picture. He had appealed to what he had been led 
to believe was the most sacred instinct in a woman's 
nature. He received no response. Moreover, he saw 
the deeper love for personal vanity and finery absolutely 
dominate the mother-instinct. He was conscious that 
something had toppled off its pedestal which could never 
be replaced. 

He was aware that his mother's words, when he ac- 



EXCURSION INTO THE FEMININE NATURE 339 

cepted his editorial position, were coming terribly true: 
"I am sorry you are going to take this position. It 
will cost you the high ideal you have always held of 
your mother's sex. But a nature, as is the feminine 
nature, wholly swayed inwardly by emotion, and out- 
wardly influenced by an insatiate love for personal 
adornment, will never stand the analysis you will give 
it." 

He realized that he was paying a high price for his 
success. Such experiences as these — and, unfortu- 
nately, they were only two of several — were doubtless in 
his mind when, upon his retirement, the newspapers 
clamored for his opinions of women. "No, thank you," 
he said to one and all, "not a word." 

He did not give his reasons. 

He never will. 



CHAPTER XXX 

CLEANING UP THE PATENT-MEDICINE AND OTHER 

EVILS 

In 1892 The Ladies' Home Journal announced that 
it would thereafter accept no advertisements of patent 
medicines for its pages. It was a pioneer stroke. Dur- 
ing the following two years, seven other newspapers and 
periodicals followed suit. The American people were 
slaves to self-medication, and the patent-medicine makers 
had it all their own way. There was little or no legal 
regulation as to the ingredients in their nostrums; the 
mails were wide open to their circulars, and the pages 
of even the most reputable periodicals welcomed their 
advertisements. The patent-medicine business in the 
United States ran into the hundreds of millions of dol- 
lars annually. The business is still large; then it was 
enormous. 

Into this army of deceit and spurious medicines, 
The Ladies' Home Journal fired the first gun. Neither 
the public nor the patent-medicine people paid much 
attention to the first attacks. But as they grew, and the 
evidence multiplied, the public began to comment and 
the nostrum makers began to get uneasy. 

The magazine attacked the evil from every angle. It 
aroused the public by showing the actual contents of 
some of their pet medicines, or the absolute worthless- 
ness of them. The Editor got the Women's Christian 

340 



CLEANING UP PATENT-MEDICINE EVILS 341 

Temperance Union into action against the periodicals 
for publishing advertisements of medicines containing as 
high as forty per cent alcohol. He showed that the most 
confidential letters written by women with private ail- 
ments were opened by young clerks of both sexes, laughed 
at and gossiped over, and that afterward their names and 
addresses, which they had been told were held in the 
strictest confidence, were sold to other lines of business 
for five cents each. He held the religious press up to 
the scorn of church members for accepting advertise- 
ments which the publishers knew and which he proved 
to be not only fraudulent, but actually harmful. He 
called the United States Post Office authorities to ac- 
count for accepting and distributing obscene circular 
matter. 

He cut an advertisement out of a newspaper which 
ended with the statement: 

Mrs. Pinkham, in her laboratory at Lynn, Massachusetts, 
is able to do more for the ailing women of America than the 
family physician. Any woman, therefore, is responsible for 
her own suffering who will not take the trouble to write to 
Mrs. Pinkham for advice. 

Next to this advertisement representing Mrs. Lydia 
Pinkham as "in her laboratory/ ' Bok simply placed the 
photograph of Mrs. Pinkham's tombstone in Pine Grove 
Cemetery, at Lynn, showing that Mrs. Pinkham had 
passed away twenty-two years before ! 

It was one of the most effective pieces of copy that 
the magazine used in the campaign. It told its story 
with absolute simplicity, but with deadly force. 



342 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

The proprietors of "Mrs. Winslow's Soothing Syrup" 
had strenuously denied the presence of morphine in their 
preparation. Bok simply bought a bottle of the syrup 
in London, where, under the English Pharmacy Act, the 
authorities compelled the proprietors of the syrup to 
affix the following declaration on each bottle: "This 
preparation, containing, among other valuable ingredi- 
ents, a small amount of morphine is, in accordance with 
the Pharmacy Act, hereby labelled 'Poison!'" The 
magazine published a photograph of the label, and it 
told its own convincing story. It is only fair to say 
that the makers of this remedy now publish their 
formula. 

Bok now slipped a cog in his machinery. He published 
a list of twenty-seven medicines, by name, and told what 
they contained. One preparation, he said, contained 
alcohol, opium, and digitalis. He believed he had been 
extremely careful in this list. He had consulted the 
highest medical authorities, physicians, and chemists. 
But in the instance of the one preparation referred to 
above he was wrong. 

The analysis had been furnished by the secretary of 
the State Board of Health of Massachusetts; a recog- 
nized expert, who had taken it from the analysis of a 
famous German chemist. It was in nearly every stand- 
ard medical authority, and was accepted by the best 
medical authorities. Bok accepted these authorities 
as final. Nevertheless, the analysis and the experts 
were wrong. A suit for two hundred thousand dollars 
was brought by the patent- medicine company against 
The Curtis Publishing Company, and, of course, it was 



CLEANING UP PATENT-MEDICINE EVILS 343 

decided in favor of the former. But so strong a public 
sentiment had been created against the whole business 
of patent medicines by this time that the jury gave a 
verdict of only sixteen thousand dollars, with costs, 
against the magazine. 

Undaunted, Bok kept on. He now engaged Mark 
Sullivan, then a young lawyer in downtown New York, 
induced him to give up his practice, and bring his legal 
mind to bear upon the problem. It was the beginning 
of Sullivan's subsequent journalistic career, and he 
justified Bok's confidence in him. He exposed the testi- 
monials to patent medicines from senators and con- 
gressmen then so widely published, showed how they 
were obtained by a journalist in Washington who made 
a business of it. He charged seventy-five dollars for a 
senator's testimonial, forty dollars for that of a congress- 
man, and accepted no contract for less than five thou- 
sand dollars. 

Sullivan next exposed the disgraceful violation of the 
confidence of women by these nostrum vendors in sell- 
ing their most confidential letters to any one who would 
buy them. Sullivan himself bought thousands of these 
letters and names, and then wrote about them in the 
magazine. One prominent firm indignantly denied the 
charge, asserting that whatever others might have done, 
their names were always held sacred. In answer to 
this declaration Sullivan published an advertisement of 
this righteous concern offering fifty thousand of their 
names for sale. 

Bok had now kept up the fight for over two years, 
and the results were apparent on every hand. Reputa- 



344 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

ble newspapers and magazines were closing their pages 
to the advertisements of patent medicines; legislation 
was appearing in several States; the public had been 
awakened to the fraud practised upon it, and a Federal 
Pure Food and Drug Act was beginning to be talked 
about. 

Single-handed, The Ladies' Rome Journal kept up the 
fight until Mark Sullivan produced an unusually strong 
article, but too legalistic for the magazine. He called the 
attention of Norman Hapgood, then editor of Collier's 
Weekly, to it, who accepted it at once, and, with Bok's 
permission, engaged Sullivan, who later succeeded Hap- 
good as editor of Collier's. Robert J. Collier now 
brought Samuel Hopkins Adams to Bok's attention and 
asked the latter if he should object if Collier's Weekly 
joined him in his fight. The Philadelphia editor natu- 
rally welcomed the help of the weekly, and Adams began 
his wonderfully effective campaign. 

The weekly and the monthly now pounded away to- 
gether; other periodicals and newspapers, seeing suc- 
cess ahead, and desiring to be part of it and share the 
glory, came into the conflict, and it was not long be- 
fore so strong a public sentiment had been created as 
to bring about the passage of the United States Food and 
Drug Act, and the patent-medicine business of the 
United States had received a blow from which it has 
never recovered. To-day the pages of every newspaper 
and periodical of recognized standing are closed to the 
advertisements of patent medicines; the Drug Act reg- 
ulates the ingredients, and post office officials scan the 
literature sent through the United States mails. 



CLEANING UP PATENT-MEDICINE EVILS 345 

There are distinct indications that the time has come 
once more to scan the patent-medicine horizon carefully, 
but the conditions existing in 1920 are radically different 
from those prevailing in 1904. 

One day when Bok was at luncheon with Doctor Ly- 
man Abbott, the latter expressed the wish that Bok 
would take up the subject of venereal disease as he had 
the patent- medicine question. 

"Not our question," answered Bok. 

"It is most decidedly your question," was the reply. 

Bok cherished the highest regard for Doctor Abbott's 
opinion and judgment, and this positive declaration 
amazed him. 

"Read up on the subject," counselled Doctor Abbott, 
"and you will find that the evil has its direct roots in 
the home with the parents. You will agree with me 
before you go very far that it is your question." 

Bok began to read on the unsavory subject. It was 
exceedingly unpleasant reading, but for two years Bok 
persisted, only to find that Doctor Abbott was right. 
The root of the evil lay in the reticence of parents with 
children as to the mystery of life; boys and girls were 
going out into the world blind-folded as to any knowledge 
of their physical selves; "the bloom must not be rubbed 
off the peach," was the belief of thousands of parents, 
and the results were appalling. Bok pursued his inves- 
tigations from books direct into the "Homes of Refuge," 
"Doors of Hope," and similar institutions, and un- 
earthed a condition, the direct results of the false modesty 
of parents, that was almost unbelievable. 

Bok had now all his facts, but realized that for his 



346 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

magazine, of all magazines, to take up this subject 
would be like a bolt from the blue in tens of thousands of 
homes. But this very fact, the unquestioned position 
of the magazine, the remarkable respect which its 
readers had for it, and the confidence with which parents 
placed the periodical on their home tables — all this was, 
after all, Bok thought, the more reason why he should 
take up the matter and thresh it out. He consulted 
with friends, who advised against it; his editors were 
all opposed to the introduction of the unsavory subject 
into the magazine. 

"But it isn't unsavory," argued Bok. "That is just 
it. We have made it so by making it mysterious, by 
surrounding it with silence, by making it a forbidden 
topic. It is the most beautiful story in life." 

Mr. Curtis, alone, encouraged his editor. Was he 
sure he was right ? If he was, why not go ahead ? 
Bok called his attention to the fact that a heavy loss in 
circulation was a foregone conclusion; he could cal- 
culate upon one hundred thousand subscribers, at least, 
stopping the magazine. "It is a question of right," 
answered the publisher, "not of circulation." 

And so, in 1906, with the subject absolutely prohibited 
in every periodical and newspaper of standing, never 
discussed at a public gathering save at medical meetings, 
Bok published his first editorial. 

The readers of his magazine fairly gasped; they were 
dumb with astonishment ! The Ladies 1 Home Journal, 
of all magazines, to discuss such a subject ! When they 
had recovered from their astonishment, the parents 
began to write letters, and one morning Bok was con- 



CLEANING UP PATENT-MEDICINE EVILS 347 

fronted with a large waste-basket full brought in by his 
two office boys. 

"Protests," laconically explained one of his editors. 
"More than that, the majority threaten to stop their 
subscription unless you stop." 

"All right, that proves I am right," answered Bok. 
"Write to each one and say that what I have written is 
nothing as compared in frankness to what is coming, 
and that we shall be glad to refund the unfulfilled part 
of their subscriptions." 

Day after day, thousands of letters came in. The 
next issue contained another editorial, stronger than the 
first. Bok explained that he would not tell the actual 
story of the beginning of life in the magazine — that was 
the prerogative of the parents, and he had no notion of 
taking it away from either; but that he meant to insist 
upon putting their duty squarely up to them, that he 
realized it was a long fight, hence the articles to come 
would be many and continued; and that those of his 
readers who did not believe in his policy had better stop 
the magazine at once. But he reminded them that no 
solution of any question was ever reached by running 
away from it. This question had to be faced some 
time, and now was as good a time as any. 

Thousands of subscriptions were stopped; advertise- 
ments gave notice that they would cancel their accounts; 
the greatest pressure was placed upon Mr. Curtis to 
order his editor to cease, and Bok had the grim experience 
of seeing his magazine, hitherto proclaimed all over the 
land as a model advocate of the virtues, refused ad- 
mittance into thousands of homes, and saw his own 



34^ THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

friends tear the offending pages out of the periodical be- 
fore it was allowed to find a place on their home- tables. 

But The Journal kept steadily on. Number after 
number contained some article on the subject, and 
finally such men and women as Jane Addams^ Cardinal 
Gibbons, Margaret D eland, Henry van Dyke, Presi- 
dent Eliot, the Bishop of London, braved the public 
storm, came to Bok's aid, and wrote articles for his mag- 
azine heartily backing up his lonely fight. 

The public, seeing this array of distinguished opinion 
expressing itself, began to wonder "whether there might 
not be something in what Bok was saying, after all." 
At the end of eighteen months, inquiries began to take 
the place of protests; and Bok knew then that the fight 
was won. He employed two experts, one man and one 
woman, to answer the inquiries, and he had published 
a series of little books, each written by a different author 
on a different aspect of the question. 

This series was known as The Edward Bok Books. 
They sold for twenty-five cents each, without profit to 
either editor or publisher. The series sold into the 
tens of thousands. Information was, therefore, to be 
had, in authoritative form, enabling every parent to tell 
the story to his or her child. Bok now insisted that 
every parent should do this, and announced that he 
intended to keep at the subject until the parents did. 
He explained that the magazine had lost about seventy- 
five thousand subscribers, and that it might just as well 
lose some more; but that the insistence should go on. 

Slowly but surely the subject became a debatable one. 
Where, when Bok began, the leading prophylactic 



CLEANING UP PATENT-MEDICINE EVILS 349 

society in New York could not secure five speaking dates 
for its single lecturer during a session, it was now put 
to it to find open dates for over ten speakers. Mothers' 
clubs, women's clubs, and organizations of all kinds 
clamored for authoritative talks; here and there a 
much-veiled article apologetically crept into print, and 
occasionally a progressive school board or educational 
institution experimented with a talk or two. 

The Ladies' Home Journal published a full-page edi- 
torial declaring that seventy of every one hundred special 
surgical operations on women were directly or indirectly 
the result of one cause; that sixty of every one hundred 
new-born blinded babies were blinded soon after birth 
from this same cause; and that every man knew what 
this cause was ! 

Letters from men now began to pour in by the hun- 
dreds. With an oath on nearly every line, they told 
him that their wives, daughters, sisters, or mothers had 
demanded to know this cause, and that they had to tell 
them. Bok answered these heated men and told them 
that was exactly why the Journal had published the 
editorial, and that in the next issue there would be an- 
other for those women who might have missed his first. 
He insisted that the time had come when women should 
learn the truth, and that, so far as it lay in his power, 
he intended to see that they did know. 

The tide of public opinion at last turned toward The 
Ladies' Home Journal and its campaign. Women began 
to realize that it had a case; that it was working for 
their best interests and for those of their children, and 
they decided that the question might as well be faced. 



35o THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

Bok now felt that his part in the work was done. He 
had started something well on its way; the common sense 
of the public must do the rest. He had taken the ques- 
tion of natural life, and stripped it of its false mystery 
in the minds of hundreds of thousands of young people; 
had started their inquiring minds; had shown parents 
the way; had made a forbidden topic a debatable sub- 
ject, discussed in open gatherings, by the press, an in- 
creasing number of books, and in schools and colleges. 
He dropped the subject, only to take up one that was 
more or less akin to it. 

That was the public drinking-cup. Here was a dis- 
tinct menace that actual examples and figures showed 
was spreading the most loathsome diseases among 
innocent children. In 1908, he opened up the subject 
by ruthlessly publishing photographs that were un- 
pleasantly but tremendously convincing. He had now 
secured the confidence of his vast public, who listened 
attentively to him when he spoke on an unpleasant 
topic; and having learned from experience that he would 
simply keep on until he got results, his readers decided 
that this time they would act quickly. So quick a re- 
sult was hardly ever achieved in any campaign. Within 
six months legislation all over the country was intro- 
duced or enacted prohibiting the common drinking-cup 
in any public gathering-place, park, store, or theatre, 
and substituting the individual paper cup. Almost 
over night, the germ-laden common drinking-cup, which 
had so widely spread disease, disappeared; and in a 
number of States, the common towel, upon Bok's in- 
sistence, met the same fate. Within a year, one of the 



CLEANING UP PATENT-MEDICINE EVILS 351 

worst menaces to American life had been wiped out by 
public sentiment. 

Bok was now done with health measures for a 
while, and determined to see what he could do with two 
or three civic questions that he felt needed attention. 



CHAPTER XXXI 
ADVENTURES IN CIVICS 

The electric power companies at Niagara Falls were 
beginning to draw so much water from above the great 
Horseshoe Falls as to bring into speculation the question 
of how soon America's greatest scenic asset would be a 
coal-pile with a thin trickle of water crawling down its 
vast cliffs. Already companies had been given legal 
permission to utilize one-quarter of the whole flow, and 
additional companies were asking for further grants. 
Permission for forty per cent of the whole volume of 
water had been granted. J. Horace McFarland, as 
President of the American Civic Association, called 
Bok's attention to the matter, and urged him to agitate 
it through his magazine so that restrictive legislation 
might be secured. 

Bok went to Washington, conferred with President 
Roosevelt, and found him cognizant of the matter in all 
its aspects. 

"I can do nothing," said the President, " unless there 
is an awakened public sentiment that compels action. 
Give me that, and I'll either put the subject in my next 
message to Congress or send a special message. I'm 
from Missouri on this point," continued the President. 
"Show me that the American people want their Falls 
preserved, and I'll do the rest. But I've got to be 
shown." Bok assured the President he could demon- 
strate this to him. 

352 



ADVENTURES IN CIVICS 353 

The next number of his magazine presented a graphic 
picture of the Horseshoe Falls as they were and the same 
Falls as they would be if more water was allowed to be 
taken for power: a barren coal-pile with a tiny rivulet 
of water trickling down its sides. The editorial asked 
whether the American women were going to allow this? 
If not, each, if an American, should write to the Presi- 
dent, and, if a Canadian, to Earl Grey, then Governor- 
General of Canada. Very soon after the magazine had 
reached its subscribers' hands, the letters began to reach 
the White House; not by dozens, as the President's 
secretary wrote to Bok, but by the hundreds and then 
by the thousands. "Is there any way to turn this 
spigot off?" telegraphed the President's secretary. 
"We are really being inundated." 

Bok went to Washington and was shown the huge pile 
of letters. 

"All right," said the President. "That's all I want. 
You've proved it to me that there is a public sentiment." 

The clerks at Rideau Hall, at Ottawa, did not know 
what had happened one morning when the mail quad- 
rupled in size and thousands of protests came to Earl 
Grey. He wired the President, the President exchanged 
views with the governor-general, and the great inter- 
national campaign to save Niagara Falls had begun. 
The American Civic Association and scores of other 
civic and patriotic bodies had joined in the clamor. 

The attorney-general and the secretary of state were 
instructed by the President to look into the legal and 
diplomatic aspects of the question, and in his next mes- 
sage to Congress President Roosevelt uttered a clarion 



354 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

call to that body to restrict the power-grabbing com- 
panies. 

The Ladies 9 Home Journal urged its readers to write 
to their congressmen and they did by the thousands. 
Every congressman and senator was overwhelmed. As 
one senator said: "I have never seen such an avalanche. 
But thanks to The Ladies 1 Home Journal, I have received 
these hundreds of letters from my constituents; they 
have told me what they want done, and they are mostly 
from those of my people whose wishes I am bound to 
respect." 

The power companies, of course, promptly sent their 
attorneys and lobbyists to Washington; but the public 
sentiment aroused was too strong to be disregarded, and 
on June 29, 1906, the President signed the Burton 
Bill restricting the use of the water of Niagara Falls. 

The matter was then referred to the secretary of war, 
William Howard Taft, to grant the use of such volume 
of water as would preserve the beauty of the Falls. 
McFarland and Bok wanted to be sure that Secretary 
Taft "felt the support of public opinion, for his policy 
was to be conservative, and tremendous pressure was 
being brought upon him from every side to permit a 
more liberal use of water. Bok turned to his readers 
and asked them to write to Secretary Taft and assure 
him of the support of the American women in his at- 
titude of conservatism. 

The flood of letters that descended upon the secretary 
almost taxed even his genial nature; and when Mr. 
McFarland, as the editorial representative of The Ladies 9 
Home Journal, arose to speak at the public hearing in 



ADVENTURES IN CIVICS 355 

Washington, the secretary said: "I can assure you that 
you don't have to say very much. Your case has al- 
ready been pleaded for you by, I should say at the most 
conservative estimate, at least one hundred thousand 
women. Why, I have had letters from even my wife 
and my mother.'' 

Secretary Taft adhered to his conservative policy > 
Sir Wilfred Laurier, premier of Canada, met the over- 
tures of Secretary of State Root, a new international 
document was drawn up, and Niagara Falls had been 
saved to the American people. 

In 1905 and in previous years the casualties resulting 
from fireworks on the Fourth of July averaged from five 
to six thousand each year. The humorous weekly Life 
and The Chicago Tribune had been for some time agitat- 
ing a restricted use of fireworks on the national fete day, 
but nevertheless the list of casualties kept creeping to 
higher figures. Bok decided to help by arousing the 
parents of America, in whose hands, after all, lay the 
remedy. He began a series of articles in the magazine, 
showing what had happened over a period of years, the 
criminality of allowing so many young lives to be snuffed 
out, and suggested how parents could help by prohibit- 
ing the deadly firecrackers and cannon, and how organ- 
izations could assist by influencing the passing of city 
ordinances. Each recurring January, The Journal re- 
turned to the subject, looking forward to the coming 
Fourth. It was a deep-rooted custom to eradicate, and 
powerful influences, in the form of thousands of small 
storekeepers, were at work upon local officials to pay no 
heed to the agitation. Gradually public opinion changed. 



356 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

The newspapers joined in the cry; women's organiza- 
tions insisted upon action from local municipal bodies. 

Finally, the civic spirit in Cleveland, Ohio, forced the 
passage of a city ordinance prohibiting the sale or use 
of fireworks on the Fourth. The following year when 
Cleveland reported no casualties as compared to an ugly 
list for the previous Fourth, a distinct impression was 
made upon other cities. Gradually, other municipalities 
took action, and year by year the list of Fourth of July 
casualties grew perceptibly shorter. New York City was 
now induced to join the list of prohibitive cities, by a 
personal appeal made to its mayor by Bok, and on the 
succeeding Fourth of July the city authorities, on behalf 
of the people of New York City, conferred a gold medal 
upon Edward Bok for his services in connection with 
the birth of the new Fourth in that city. 

There still remains much to be done in cities as yet 
unawakened; but a comparison of the list of casualties 
of 1920 with that of 1905 proves the growth in en- 
lightened public sentiment in fifteen years to have been 
steadily increasing. It is an instance not of Bok 
taking the initiative— that had already been taken — 
but of throwing the whole force of the magazine with 
those working in the field to help. It is the American 
woman who is primarily responsible for the safe and sane 
Fourth, so far as it already exists in this country to-day, 
and it is the American woman who can make it universal. 

Mrs. Pennypacker, as president of The Federation of 
Women's Clubs, now brought to Bok's attention the 
conditions tinder which the average rural school-teacher 
lived; the suffering often entailed on her in having to 



ADVENTURES IN CIVICS 357 

walk miles to the schoolhouse in wintry weather; the 
discomfort she had to put up with in the farm-houses 
where she was compelled to live, with the natural re- 
sult, under those conditions, that it was almost impossi- 
ble to secure the services of capable teachers, or to have 
good teaching even where efficient teachers were ob- 
tained. 

Mrs. Pennypacker suggested that Bok undertake the 
creation of a public sentiment for a residence for the 
teacher in connection with the schoolhouse. The par- 
son was given a parsonage; why not the teacher a 
"teacherage"? The Journal co-operated with Mrs. 
Pennypacker and she began the agitation of the subject 
in the magazine. She also spoke on the subject wher- 
ever she went, and induced women's clubs all over the 
country to join the magazine in its advocacy of the 
"teacherage." 

By personal effort, several "teacherages" were es- 
tablished in connection with new schoolhouses; photo- 
graphs of these were published and sent personally to 
school-boards all over the country; the members of 
women's clubs saw to it that the articles were brought 
to the attention of members of their local school-boards; 
and the now-generally accepted idea that a " teacherage" 
must accompany a new schoolhouse was well on its way 
to national recognition. 

It only remains now for communities to install a visit- 
ing nurse in each of these "teacherages" so that the 
teacher need not live in solitary isolation, and that the 
health of the children at school can be looked after at first 
hand. Then the nurse shall be at the call of every small 



358 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

American community — particularly to be available in 
cases of childbirth, since in these thinly settled districts 
it is too often impossible to obtain the services of a 
physician, with the result of a high percentage of fatali- 
ties to mothers that should not be tolerated by a wealthy 
and progressive people. No American mother, at child- 
birth, should be denied the assistance of professional 
skill, no matter how far she may live from a physician. 
And here is where a visiting nurse in every community 
can become an institution of inestimable value. 

Just about this time a group of Philadelphia physi- 
cians, headed by Doctor Samuel McClintock Hamill, 
which had formed itself into a hygienic committee for 
babies, waited upon Bok to ask him to join them in the 
creation of a permanent organization devoted to the 
welfare of babies and children. Bok found that he was 
dealing with a company of representative physicians, 
and helped to organize "The Child Federation," an 
organization "to do good on a business basis/ ' 

It was to go to the heart of the problem of the baby 
in the congested districts of Philadelphia, and do a piece 
of intensive work in the ward having the highest infant 
mortality, establishing the first health centre in the 
United States actively managed by competent physicians 
and nurses. This centre was to demonstrate to the city 
authorities that the fearful mortality among babies, 
particularly in summer, could be reduced. 

Meanwhile, there was created a "Baby Saving Show," 
a set of graphic pictures conveying to the eye methods 
of sanitation and other too often disregarded essentials 
of the wise care and feeding of babies; and this travelled, 



ADVENTURES IN CIVICS 359 

like a theatrical attraction, to different parts of the city. 
"Little Mothers' Leagues" were organized to teach the 
little girl of ten or twelve, so often left in charge of a 
family of children when the mother is at work during 
the day, and demonstrations were given in various parts 
of the city. 

The Child Federation now undertook one activity 
after the other. Under its auspices, the first municipal 
Christmas tree ever erected in Philadelphia was shown in 
the historic Independence Square, and with two bands of 
music giving concerts every day from Christmas to 
New Year's Day, attracted over two hundred thousand 
persons. A pavilion was erected in City Hall Square, 
the most central spot in the city, and the "Baby Saving 
Show" was permanently placed there and visited by over 
one hundred thousand visitors from every part of the 
country on their way to and from the Pennsylvania Sta- 
tion at Broad Street. 

A searching investigation of the Day Nurseries of 
Philadelphia — probably one of the most admirable 
pieces of research work ever made in a city — changed 
the methods in vogue and became a standard guide for 
similar institutions throughout the country. So success- 
ful were the Little Mothers' Leagues that they were 
introduced into the public schools of Philadelphia, and 
are to-day a regular part of the curriculum. The Health 
Centre, its success being proved, was taken over by the 
city Board of Health, and three others were established. 

To-day The Child Federation is recognized as one of 
the most practically conducted child welfare agencies in 
Philadelphia, and its methods have been followed by 



360 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

similar organizations all over the country. It is now 
rapidly becoming the central medium through which 
the other agencies in Philadelphia are working, thus 
avoiding the duplication of infant welfare work in the 
city. Broadening its scope, it is not unlikely to become 
one of the greatest indirect influences in the welfare work 
of Philadelphia and the vicinity, through which other 
organizations will be able to work. 

Bok's interest and knowledge in civic matters had 
now peculiarly prepared him for a personal adventure 
into community work. Merion, where he lived, was one 
of the most beautiful of the many suburbs that sur- 
round the Quaker City; but, like hundreds of similar 
communities, there had been developed in it no civic 
interest. Some of the most successful business men of 
Philadelphia lived in Merion; they had beautiful estates, 
which they maintained without regard to expense, but 
also without regard to the community as a whole. They 
were busy men; they came home tired after a day in the 
city; they considered themselves good citizens if they 
kept their own places sightly, but the idea of devoting 
their evenings to the problems of their community had 
never occurred to them before the evening when two of 
Bok's neighbors called to ask his help in forming a 
civic association. 

A canvass of the sentiment of the neighborhood re- 
vealed the unanimous opinion that the experiment, if 
attempted, would be a failure, — an attitude not by any 
means confined to the residents of Merion! Bok de- 
cided to test it out; he called together twenty of his 
neighbors, put the suggestion before them and asked 



ADVENTURES IN CIVICS 361 

for two thousand dollars as a start, so that a paid 
secretary might be engaged, since the men themselves 
were too busy to attend to the details of the work. The 
amount was immediately subscribed, and in 191 3 The 
Merion Civic Association applied for a charter and 
began its existence. 

The leading men in the community were elected as a 
Board of Directors, and a salaried secretary was en- 
gaged to carry out the directions of the Board. The 
association adopted the motto: "To be nation right, 
and State right, we must first be community right." 
Three objectives were selected with which to attract 
community interest and membership: safety to life, in 
the form of proper police protection; safety to property, 
in the form of adequate hydrant and fire-engine service; 
and safety to health, in careful supervision of the water 
and milk used in the community. 

"The three S ? s," as they were called, brought an im- 
mediate response. They were practical in their appeal, 
and members began to come in. The police force was 
increased from one officer at night and none in the day, 
to three at night and two during the day, and to this 
the Association added two special night ofiicers of its 
own. Private detectives were intermittently brought 
in to "check up" and see that the service was vigilant. 
A fire hydrant was placed within seven hundred feet of 
every house, with the insurance rates reduced from 
twelve and one-half to thirty per cent; the services of 
three fire-engine companies was arranged for. Fire- 
gongs were introduced into the community to guard 
against danger from interruption of telephone service. 



362 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

The water supply was chemically analyzed each month 
and the milk supply carefully scrutinized. One hundred 
and fifty new electric-light posts specially designed, and 
pronounced by experts as the most beautiful and prac- 
tical road lamps ever introduced into any community, 
were erected, making Merion the best-lighted commu- 
nity in its vicinity. 

At every corner was erected an artistically designed 
cast-iron road sign; instead of the unsightly wooden 
ones, cast-iron automobile warnings were placed at every 
dangerous spot; community bulletin-boards, preventing 
the display of notices on trees and poles, were placed at 
the railroad station; litter-cans were distributed over 
the entire community; a new railroad station and post- 
office were secured; the station grounds were laid out 
as a garden by a landscape architect; new roads of per- 
manent construction, from curb to curb, were laid down; 
uniform tree-planting along the roads was introduced; 
bird-houses were made and sold, so as to attract bird- 
life to the community; toll-gates were abolished along 
the two main arteries of travel; the removal of all 
telegraph and telephone poles was begun; an efficient 
Boy Scout troop was organized, and an American Legion 
post; the automobile speed limit was reduced from 
twenty-four to fifteen miles as a protection to children; 
roads were regularly swept, cleaned, and oiled, and 
uniform sidewalks advocated and secured. 

Within seven years so efficiently had the Association 
functioned that its work attracted attention far beyond 
its own confines and that of Philadelphia, and caused 
Theodore Roosevelt voluntarily to select it as a sub- 




THE DUTCH GRANDFATHER 

Who each year planted trees on his island home and transformed the place into a bower 
of leafy beauty — an example followed in America by Edward Bok 



ADVENTURES IN CIVICS 363 

ject for a special magazine article in which he declared 
it to "stand as a model in civic matters." To-day it 
may be conservatively said of The Merion Civic Associa- 
tion that it is pointed out as one of the most successful 
suburban civic efforts in the country; as Doctor Lyman 
Abbott said in The Outlook, it has made " Merion a model 
suburb, which may standardize ideal suburban life, cer- 
tainly for Philadelphia, possibly for the United States." 

When the armistice was signed in November, 191 8, the 
Association immediately canvassed the neighborhood 
to erect a suitable Tribute House, as a memorial to the 
eighty-three Merion boys who had gone into the Great 
War: a public building which would comprise a commu- 
nity centre, with an American Legion Post room, a Boy 
Scout house, an auditorium, and a meeting-place for the 
civic activities of Merion. A subscription was raised, and 
plans were already drawn for the Tribute House, when 
Mr. Eldridge R. Johnson, president of the Victor Talking 
Machine Company, one of the strong supporters of 
The Merion Civic Association, presented his entire 
estate of twelve acres, the finest in Merion, to the 
community, and agreed to build a Tribute House at his 
own expense. The grounds represented a gift of two 
hundred thousand dollars, and the building a gift of 
two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. This building, 
now about to be erected, will be one of the most beautiful 
and complete community centres in the United States. 

Perhaps no other suburban civic effort proves the 
efficiency of community co-operation so well as does the 
seven years' work of The Merion Civic Association. It 
is a practical demonstration of what a community can 



364 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

do for itself by concerted action. It preached, from the 
very start, the gospel of united service; it translated into 
actual practice the doctrine of being one's brother's 
keeper, and it taught the invaluable habit of collective 
action. The Association has no legal powers; it rules 
solely by persuasion; it accomplishes by the power of 
combination; by a spirit of the community for the com- 
munity. 

When The Merion Civic Association was conceived, 
the spirit of local pride was seemingly not present in the 
community. As a matter of fact, it was there as it 
is in practically every neighborhood; it was simply 
dormant; it had to be awakened, and its value brought 
vividly to the community consciousness. 



CHAPTER XXXII 
A BEWILDERED BOK 

One of the misfortunes of Edward Bok's training, 
which he realized more clearly as time went on, was that 
music had little or no place in his life. His mother did 
not play; and aside from the fact that his father and 
mother were patrons of the opera during their residence 
in The Netherlands, the musical atmosphere was lacking 
in his home. He realized how welcome an outlet music 
might be in his now busy life. So what he lacked him- 
self and realized as a distinct omission in his own life 
he decided to make possible for others. 

The Ladies' Home Journal began to strike a definite 
musical note. It first caught the eye and ear of its 
public by presenting the popular new marches by John 
Philip Sousa; and when the comic opera of "Robin 
Hood" became the favorite of the day, it secured all the 
new compositions by Reginald de Koven. Following 
these, it introduced its readers to new compositions by 
Sir Arthur Sullivan, Tosti, Moscowski, Richard Strauss, 
Paderewski, Josef Hofmann, Edouard Strauss, and Mas- 
cagni. Bok induced Josef Hofmann to give a series of 
piano lessons in his magazine, and Madame Marchesi 
a series of vocal lessons. The Journal introduced its 
readers to all the great instrumental and vocal artists 
of the day through articles; it offered prizes for the best 
piano and vocal compositions; it had the leading critics 

36s 



366 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

of New York, Boston, and Chicago write articles ex- 
planatory of orchestral music and how to listen to music. 

Bok was early attracted by the abilities of Josef 
Hofmann. In 1898, he met the pianist, who was then 
twenty- two years old. Of his musical ability Bok could 
not judge, but he was much impressed by his unusual 
mentality, and soon both learned and felt that Hof- 
mann's art was deeply and firmly rooted. Hofmann 
had a wider knowledge of affairs than other musicians 
whom Bok had met; he had not narrowed his interests 
to his own art. He was striving to achieve a position 
in his art, and, finding that he had literary ability, Bok 
asked him to write a reminiscent article on his famous 
master, Rubinstein. 

This was followed by other articles; the publication of 
his new mazurka; still further articles; and then, in 
1907, Bok offered him a regular department in the 
magazine and a salaried editorship on his staff. 

Bok's musical friends and the music critics tried to 
convince the editor that Hofmann's art lay not so deep 
as Bok imagined; that he had been a child prodigy, and 
would end where all child prodigies invariably end — 
opinions which make curious reading now in view of 
Hofmann's commanding position in the world of music. 
But while Bok lacked musical knowledge, his instinct 
led him to adhere to his belief in Hofmann; and for 
twelve years, until Bok's retirement as editor, the pian- 
ist was a regular contributor to the magazine. His 
success was, of course, unquestioned. He answered 
hundreds of questions sent him by his readers, and these 
answers furnished such valuable advice for piano stu- 



A BEWILDERED BOK 367 

dents that two volumes were made in book form and 
are to-day used by piano teachers and students as au- 
thoritative guides. 

Meanwhile, Bok's marriage had brought music directly 
into his domestic circle. Mrs. Bok loved music, was a 
pianist herself, and sought to acquaint her husband 
with what his former training had omitted. Hofmann 
and Bok had become strong friends outside of the edi- 
torial relation, and the pianist frequently visited the 
Bok home. But it was some time, even with these in- 
fluences surrounding him, before music began to play 
any real part in Bok's own life. 

He attended the opera occasionally; more or less un- 
der protest, because of its length, and because his mind 
was too practical for the indirect operatic form. He 
could not remain patient at a recital; the effort to listen 
to one performer for an hour and a half was too severe a 
tax upon his restless nature. The Philadelphia Orchestra 
gave a symphony concert each Saturday evening, and 
Bok dreaded the coming of that evening in each week 
for fear of being taken to hear music which he was 
convinced was "over his head." 

Like many men of his practical nature, he had made 
up his mind on this point without ever having heard 
such a concert. The word "symphony" was enough; 
it conveyed to him a form of the highest music quite 
beyond his comprehension. Then, too, in the back of 
his mind there was the feeling that, while he was per- 
fectly willing to offer the best that the musical world 
afforded in his magazine, his readers were primarily 
women, and the appeal of music, after all, he felt was 



368 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

largely, if not wholly, to the feminine nature. It was 
very satisfying to him to hear his wife play in the even- 
ing; but when it came to public concerts, they were not 
for his masculine nature. In other words, Bok shared 
the all too common masculine notion that music is for 
women and has little place in the lives of men. 

One day Josef Hofmann gave Bok an entirely new 
point of view. The artist was rehearsing in Philadelphia 
for an appearance with the orchestra, and the pianist 
was telling Bok and his wife of the desire of Leopold 
Stokowski, who had recently become conductor of the 
Philadelphia Orchestra, to eliminate encores from his 
symphonic programmes; he wanted to begin the experi- 
ment with Hofmann's appearance that week. This 
was a novel thought to Bok: why eliminate encores 
from any concert? If he liked the way any performer 
played, he had always done his share to secure 
an encore. Why should not the public have an encore 
if it desired it, and why should a conductor or a per- 
former object? Hofmann explained to him the entity 
of a symphonic programme; that it was made up with 
one composition in relation to the others as a sympa- 
thetic unit, and that an encore was an intrusion, dis- 
turbing the harmony of the whole. 

"I wish you would let Stokowski come out and explain 
to you what he is trying to do," said Hofmann. "He 
knows what he wants, and he is right in his efforts; but 
he doesn't know how to educate the public. There is 
where you could help him." 

But Bok had no desire to meet Stokowski. He men- 
tally pictured the conductor: long hair; feet never 



A BEWILDERED BOK 369 

touching the earth; temperament galore; he knew 
them ! And he had no wish to introduce the type into 
his home life. 

Mrs. Bok, however, ably seconded Josef Hofmann, 
and endeavored to dissipate Bok's preconceived notion, 
with the result that Stokowksi came to the Bok home. 

Bok was not slow to see that Stokowski was quite 
the reverse of his mental picture, and became intensely 
interested in the youthful conductor's practical way of 
looking at things. It was agreed that the encore "bull" 
was to be taken by the horns that week; that no matter 
what the ovation to Hofmann might be, however the 
public might clamor, no encore was to be forthcoming; 
and Bok was to give the public an explanation during 
the following week. The next concert was to present 
Mischa Elman, and his co-operation was assured so 
that continuity of effort might be counted upon. 

In order to have first-hand information, Bok attended 
the concert that Saturday evening. The symphony, 
Dvorak's "New World Symphony," amazed Bok by its 
beauty; he was more astonished that he could so easily 
grasp any music in symphonic form. He was equally 
surprised at the simple beauty of the other numbers on 
the programme, and wondered not a little at his own 
perfectly absorbed attention during Hofmann's playing 
of a rather long concerto. 

The pianist's performance was so beautiful that the 
audience was uproarious in its approval; it had cal- 
culated, of course, upon an encore, and recalled the 
pianist again and again until he had appeared and bowed 
his thanks several times. But there was no encore; 



370 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

the stage hands appeared and moved the piano to one 
side, and the audience relapsed into unsatisfied and 
rather bewildered silence. 

Then followed Bok's publicity work in the news- 
papers, beginning the next day, exonerating Hofmann 
and explaining the situation. The following week, 
with Mischa Elman as soloist, the audience once more 
tried to have its way and its cherished encore, but again 
none was forthcoming. Once more the newspapers 
explained; the battle was won, and the no-encore rule 
has prevailed at the Philadelphia Orchestra concerts 
from that day to this, with the public entirely resigned 
to the idea and satisfied with the reason therefor. 

But the bewildered Bok could not make out exactly 
what had happened to his preconceived notion about 
symphonic music. He attended the following Saturday 
evening concert; listened to a Brahms symphony that 
pleased him even more than had a The New World/' and 
when, two weeks later, he heard the Tschaikowski "Pa- 
thetique" and later the "Unfinished" symphony, by 
Schubert, and a Beethoven symphony, attracted by 
each in turn, he realized that his prejudice against the 
whole question of symphonic music had been both 
wrongly conceived and baseless. 

He now began to see the possibility of a whole world 
of beauty which up to that time had been closed to 
him, and he made up his mind that he would enter it. 
Somehow or other, he found the appeal of music did not 
confine itself to women; it seemed to have a message for 
men. Then, too, instead of dreading the approach of 
Saturday evenings, he was looking forward to them, and 



A BEWILDERED BOK 371 

invariably so arranged his engagements that they might 
not interfere with his attendance at the orchestra con- 
certs. 

After a busy week, he discovered that nothing he had 
ever experienced served to quiet him so much as these 
end-of- the- week concerts. They were not too long, 
an hour and a half at the utmost; and, above all, ex- 
cept now and then, when the conductor would take a 
flight into the world of Bach, he found he followed him 
with at least a moderate degree of intelligence; certainly 
with personal pleasure and inner satisfaction. 

Bok concluded he would not read the articles he had 
published on the meaning of the different " sections' ' of 
a symphony orchestra,- or the books issued on that sub- 
ject. He would try to solve the mechanism of an 
orchestra for himself, and ascertain as he went along 
the relation that each portion bore to the other. When, 
therefore, in 19 13, the president of the Philadelphia 
Orchestra Association asked him to become a member 
of its Board of Directors, his acceptance was a natural 
step in the gradual development of his interest in or- 
chestral music. 

The public support given to orchestras now greatly 
interested Bok. He was surprised to find that every 
symphony orchestra had a yearly deficit. This he im- 
mediately attributed to faulty management; but on 
investigating the whole question he learned that a 
symphony orchestra could not possibly operate, at a 
profit or even on a self-sustaining basis, because of its 
weekly change ^of programme, the incessant rehearsals 
required, and the limited number of times it could actu- 



372 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

ally play within a contracted season. An annual deficit 
was inevitable. 

He found that the Philadelphia Orchestra had a small 
but faithful group of guarantors who each year made 
good the deficit in addition to paying for its concert 
seats. This did not seem to B ok a sound business plan; 
it made of the orchestra a necessarily exclusive organiza- 
tion, maintained by a few; and it gave out this impres- 
sion to the general public, which felt that it did not 
"belong," whereas the true relation of public and or- 
chestra was that of mutual dependence. Other orches- 
tras, he found, as, for example, the Boston Symphony 
and the New York Philharmonic had their deficits met 
by one individual patron in each case. This, to Bok's 
mind, was an even worse system, since it entirely ex- 
cluded the public, making the orchestra dependent on 
the continued interest and life of a single man. 

In 19 16 Bok sought Mr. Alexander Van Rensselaer, 
the president of the Philadelphia Orchestra Association, 
and proposed that he, himself, should guarantee the 
deficit of the orchestra for five years, provided that 
during that period an endowment fund should be raised, 
contributed by a large number of subscribers, and 
sufficient in amount to meet, from its interest, the an- 
nual deficit. It was agreed that the donor should re- 
main in strict anonymity, an understanding which has 
been adhered to until the present writing. 

The offer from the "anonymous donor," presented by 
the president, was accepted by the Orchestra Association. 
A subscription to an endowment fund was shortly 
afterward begun; and the amount had been brought to 



A BEWILDERED BOK 373 

eight hundred thousand dollars when the Great War 
interrupted any further additions. In the autumn of 
1919, however, a city-wide campaign for an addition 
of one million dollars to the endowment fund was 
launched. The amount was not only secured, but over- 
subscribed. Thus, instead of a guarantee fund, con- 
tributed by thirteen hundred subscribers, with the 
necessity for annual collection, an endowment fund 
of one million eight hundred thousand dollars, contrib- 
uted by fourteen thousand subscribers, has been se- 
cured; and the Philadelphia Orchestra has been pro- 
moted from a privately maintained organization to a 
public institution in which fourteen thousand residents 
of Philadelphia feel a proprietary interest. It has 
become in fact, as well as in name, "our orchestra." 



CHAPTER XXXIII 
HOW MILLIONS OF PEOPLE ARE REACHED 

The success of The Ladies 9 Home Journal went 
steadily forward. The circulation had passed the pre- 
viously unheard-of figure for a monthly magazine of a 
million and a half copies per month; it had now touched 
a million and three-quarters. 

And not only was the figure so high, but the circula- 
tion itself was absolutely free from "water." The 
public could not obtain the magazine through what 
are known as clubbing-rates, since no subscriber was 
permitted to include any other magazine with it; years 
ago it had abandoned the practice of offering premiums 
or consideration of any kind to induce subscriptions; 
and the newsdealers were not allowed to return unsold 
copies of the periodical. Hence every copy was either 
purchased by the public at the full price at a newsstand, 
or subscribed for at its stated subscription price. It 
was, in short, an authoritative circulation. And on 
every hand the question was being asked: "How is it 
done? How is such a high circulation obtained?" 

Bok's invariable answer was that he gave his readers 
the very best of the class of reading that he believed 
would interest them, and that he spared neither effort 
nor expense to obtain it for them. When Mr. Howells 
once asked him how he classified his audience, Bok re- 
plied: "We appeal to the intelligent American woman 

374 



HOW MILLIONS OF PEOPLE ARE REACHED 375 

rather than to the intellectual type." And he gave her 
the best he could obtain. As he knew her to be fond of 
the personal type of literature, he gave her in succession 
Jane Addams's story of "My Fifteen Years at Hull 
House/' and the remarkable narration of Helen Kel- 
ler's "Story of My Life"; he invited Henry Van Dyke, 
who had never been in the Holy Land, to go there, camp 
out in a tent, and then write a series of sketches, "Out 
of Doors in the Holy Land"; he induced Lyman Ab- 
bott to tell the story of "My Fifty Years as a Minister." 
He asked Gene Stratton Porter to tell of her bird- 
experiences in the series: "What I Have Done with 
Birds"; he persuaded Dean Hodges to turn from his 
work of training young clergymen at the Episcopal 
Seminary, at Cambridge, and write one of the most 
successful series of Bible stories for children ever printed; 
and then he supplemented this feature for children by 
publishing Rudyard Kipling's "Just So" stories and his 
"Puck of Pook's Hill." He induced F. Hopkinson 
Smith to tell the best stories he had ever heard in his 
wide travels in "The Man in the Arm Chair"; he got 
Kate Douglas Wiggin to tell a country church experience 
of hers in "The Old Peabody Pew"; and Jean Webster 
her knowledge of almshouse life in "Daddy Long Legs." 

The readers of The Ladies' Home Journal realized that 
it searched the whole field of endeavor in literature and 
art to secure what would interest them, and they re- 
sponded with their support. 

Another of Bok's methods in editing was to do the 
common thing in an uncommon way. He had the 
faculty of putting old wine in new bottles and the 



376 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

public liked it. His ideas were not new; he knew there 
were no new ideas, but he presented his ideas in such 
a way that they seemed new. It is a significant fact, 
too, that a large public will respond more quickly to an 
idea than it will to a name. 

This The Ladies' Home Journal proved again and 
again. Its most pronounced successes, from the point 
of view of circulation, were those in which the idea was 
the sole and central appeal. For instance, when it gave 
American women an opportunity to look into a hundred 
homes and see how they were furnished, it added a hun- 
dred thousand copies to the circulation. There was 
nothing new in publishing pictures of rooms and, had 
it merely done this, it is questionable whether success 
would have followed the effort. It was the way in 
which it was done. The note struck entered into the 
feminine desire, reflected it, piqued curiosity, and won 
success. 

Again, when The Journal decided to show good taste 
and bad taste in furniture, in comparative pictures, 
another hundred thousand circulation came to it. 
There was certainly nothing new in the comparative 
idea; but applied to a question of taste, which could 
not be explained so clearly in words, it seemed new. 

Had it simply presented masterpieces of art as such, 
the series might have attracted little attention. But 
when it announced that these masterpieces had always 
been kept in private galleries, and seen only by the 
favored few; that the public had never been allowed 
to get any closer to them than to read of the fabulous 
prices paid by their millionaire owners; and that now 






HOW MILLIONS OF PEOPLE ARE REACHED 377 

the magazine would open the doors of those exclusive 
galleries and let the public in — public curiosity was at 
once piqued, and over one hundred and fifty thousand 
persons who had never before bought the magazine were 
added to the list. 

In not one of these instances, nor in the case of other 
successful series, did the appeal to the public depend 
upon the names of contributors; there were none: it 
was the idea which the public liked and to which it 
responded. 

The editorial Edward Bok enjoyed this hugely; the 
real Edward Bok did not. The one was bottled up in 
the other. It was a case of absolute self-effacement. 
The man behind the editor knew that if he followed his 
own personal tastes and expressed them in his maga- 
zine, a limited audience would be his instead of the enor- 
mous clientele that he was now reaching. It was the 
man behind the editor who had sought expression in 
the idea of Country Life, the magazine which his com- 
pany sold to Doubleday, Page & Company, and which 
he would personally have enjoyed editing. 

It was in 1913 that the real Edward Bok, bottled up 
for twenty-five years, again came to the surface. The 
majority stockholders of The Century Magazine wanted 
to dispose of their interest in the periodical. Over- 
tures were made to The Curtis Publishing Company, 
but its hands were full, and the matter was presented 
for Bok's personal consideration. The idea interested 
him, as he saw in The Century a chance for his self- 
expression. He entered into negotiations, looked care- 
fully into the property itself and over the field which 



378 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

such a magazine might fill, decided to buy it, and install 
an active editor while he, as a close adviser, served as the 
propelling power. 

Bok figured out that there was room for one of the 
trio of what was, and still is, called the standard-sized 
magazines, namely Scribner's, Harper's, and The Century. 
He believed, as he does to-day, that any one of these 
magazines could be so edited as to preserve all its 
traditions and yet be so ingrafted with the new pro- 
gressive, modern spirit as to dominate the field and 
constitute itself the leader in that particular group. He 
believed that there was a field which would produce a 
circulation in the neighborhood of a quarter of a million 
copies a month for one of those magazines, so that it 
would be considered not, as now, one of three, but the 
one. 

What Bok saw in the possibilities of the standard il- 
lustrated magazine has been excellently carried out by 
Mr. Ellery Sedgwick in The Atlantic Monthly; every 
tradition has been respected, and yet the new progres- 
sive note introduced has given it a position and a cir- 
culation never before attained by a non-illustrated maga- 
zine of the highest class. 

As Bok studied the field, his confidence in the prop- 
osition, as he saw it, grew. For his own amusement, 
he made up some six issues of The Century as he visual- 
ized it, and saw that the articles he had included were 
all obtainable. He selected a business manager and 
publisher who would relieve him of the manufacturing 
problems; but before the contract was actually closed 
Bok, naturally, wanted to consult Mr. Curtis, who was 



HOW MILLIONS OF PEOPLE ARE REACHED 379 

just returning from abroad, as to this proposed shar- 
ing of his editor. 

For one man to edit two magazines inevitably meant 
a distribution of effort, and this Mr. Curtis counselled 
against. He did not believe that any man could success- 
fully serve two masters; it would also mean a division of 
public association; it might result in Bok's physical 
undoing, as already he was overworked. Mr. Curtis's 
arguments, of course, prevailed; the negotiations were 
immediately called off, and for the second time^ — for 
some wise reason, undoubtedly — the real Edward Bok 
was subdued. He went back into the bottle ! 

A cardinal point in Edward Bok's code of editing was 
not to commit his magazine to unwritten material, or 
to accept and print articles or stories simply because 
they were the work of well-known persons. And as his 
acquaintance with authors multiplied, he found that 
the greater the man the more willing he was that his 
work should stand or fall on its merit, and that the 
editor should retain his prerogative of declination — if he 
deemed it wise to exercise it. 

Rudyard Kipling was, and is, a notable example of 
this broad and just policy. His work is never imposed 
upon an editor; it is invariably submitted, in its com- 
pleted form, for acceptance or declination. "Wait 
until it's done," said Kipling once to Bok as he outlined 
a story to him which the editor liked, "and see whether 
you want it. You can't tell until then." (What a 
difference from the type of author who insists that an 
editor must take his or her story before a line is writ- 
ten!) 



380 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

"I told Watt to send you," he writes to Bok, "the 
first four of my child stories (you see I hadn't forgotten 
my promise), and they may serve to amuse you for 
a while personally, even if you don't use them for publica- 
tion. Frankly, I don't myself see how they can be used 
for the L. H, J.; but they're part of a scheme of mine 
for trying to give children not a notion of history, but a 
notion of the time sense which is at the bottom of all 
knowledge of history; and history, rightly understood, 
means the love of one's fellow-men and the land one 
lives in." 

James Whitcomb Riley was another who believed 
that an editor should have the privilege of saying "No" 
if he so elected. When Riley was writing a series of 
poems for Bok, the latter, not liking a poem which the 
Hoosier poet sent him, returned it to him. He wondered 
how Riley would receive a declination — naturally a 
rare experience. But his immediate answer settled the 
question: 

Thanks equally for your treatment of both poems, [he wrote], 
the one accepted and the other returned. Maintain your 
own opinions and respect, and my vigorous esteem for you 
shall remain "deep-rooted in the fruitful soil." No occasion 
for apology whatever. In my opinion, you are wrong; in 
your opinion, you are right; therefore, you are right, — at 
least righter than wronger. It is seldom that I drop other 
work for logic, but when I do, as my grandfather was wont to 
sturdily remark, "it is to some purpose, I can promise you." 

Am goin' to try mighty hard to send you the dialect work 
you've so long wanted; in few weeks at furthest. "Patience 
and shuffle the cards." 

I am really, just now, stark and bare of one common- 



HOW MILLIONS OF PEOPLE ARE REACHED 381 

sense idea. In the writing line, I was never so involved be- 
fore and see no end to the ink- (an humorous voluntary pro- 
vocative, I trust of much merriment) -creasing pressure of 
it all. Even the hope of waking to find myself famous is 
denied me, since I haven't time in which to fall asleep. There- 
fore, very drowsily and yawningly indeed, I am your 

James Whitcomb Riley. 

Neither did the President of the United States con- 
sider himself above a possible declination of his material 
if it seemed advisable to the editor. In 191 6 Woodrow 
Wilson wrote to Bok: 

Sometime ago you kindly intimated to me that you would 
like to publish an article from me. At first, it seemed impossi- 
ble for me to undertake anything of the kind, but I have found 
a little interval in which I have written something on Mexico 
which I hope you will think worthy of publication. If not, 
will you return it to me ? 

The President, too, acted as an intermediary in turn- 
ing authors in Bok's direction, when the way opened. 
In a letter written not on the official White House letter- 
head, but on his personal "up-stairs" stationery, as it 
is called, he asks: 

Will you do me the favor of reading the enclosed to see if 
it is worthy of your acceptance for the Journal, or whether 
you think it indicates that the writer, with a few directions 
and suggestions, might be useful to you ? 

It was written by . She is a woman of great refine- 
ment, of a very unusually broad social experience, and of 
many exceptional gifts, who thoroughly knows what she is 
writing about, whether she has yet discovered the best way 
to set it forth or not. She is one of the most gifted and re- 



382 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

sourceful hostesses I have known, but has now fallen upon 
hard times. 

Among other things that she really knows, she really does 
thoroughly know old furniture and all kinds of china worth 
knowing. 

Pardon me if I have been guilty of an indiscretion in 
sending this direct to you. I am throwing myself upon your 
indulgence in my desire to help a splendid woman. 

She has a great collection of recipes which housekeepers 
would like to have. Does a serial cook-book sound like non- 
sense? 

A further point in his editing which Bok always kept 
in view was his rule that the editor must always be given 
the privilege of revising or editing a manuscript. Bok's 
invariable rule was, of course, to submit his editing for 
approval, but here again the bigger the personality back 
of the material, the more willing the author was to have 
his manuscript "blue pencilled, ,, if he were convinced 
that the deletions or condensations improved or at least 
did not detract from his arguments. It was the small 
author who ever resented the touch of the editorial 
pencil upon his precious effusions. 

As a matter of fact there are few authors who cannot 
be edited with advantage, and it would be infinitely 
better for our reading if this truth was applied to some 
of the literature of to-day. 

Bok had once under his hand a story by Mark Twain, 
which he believed contained passages that should be 
deleted. They represented a goodly portion of the 
manuscript. They were, however, taken out, and the 
result submitted to the humorist. The answer was 
curious. Twain evidently saw that Bok was right, for 



HOW MILLIONS OF PEOPLE ARE REACHED 383 

he wrote: "Of course, I want every single line and word 
of it left out," and then added: "Do me the favor to 
call the next time you are again in Hartford. I want 
to say things which — well, I want to argue with you." 
Bok never knew what those "things" were, for at the 
next meeting they were not referred to. 

It is, perhaps, a curious coincidence that all the 
Presidents of the United States whose work Bok had 
occasion to publish were uniformly liberal with regard 
to having their material edited. 

Colonel Roosevelt was always ready to concede im- 
provement: "Fine," he wrote; "the changes are much 
for the better. I never object to my work being im- 
proved, where it needs it, so long as the sense is not 
altered." 

William Howard Taft wrote, after being subjected to 
editorial revision: "You have done very well by my 
article. You have made it much more readable by your 
rearrangement." 

Mr. Cleveland was very likely to let his interest in a 
subject run counter to the space exigencies of journalism; 
and Bok, in one instance, had to reduce one of his articles 
considerably. He explained the reason and enclosed the 
revision. 

"I am entirely willing to have the article cut down as 
you suggest," wrote the former President. "I find suf- 
ficient reason for this in the fact that the matter you 
suggest for elimination has been largely exploited lately. 
And in looking the matter over carefully, I am inclined 
to think that the article expurgated as you suggest will 
gain in unity and directness. At first, I feared it would 



384 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

appear a little ' bobbed ' off, but you are a much better 
judge of that than I. . . . I leave it altogether to 
you." 

It was always interesting to Bok, as a study of mental 
processes, to note how differently he and some author 
with whom he would talk it over would see the method 
of treating some theme. He was discussing the growing 
unrest among American women with Rudyard Kipling 
at the latter's English home; and expressed the desire 
that the novelist should treat the subject and its causes. 

They talked until the early hours, when it was agreed 
that each should write out a plan, suggest the best treat- 
ment, and come together the next morning. When they 
did so, Kipling had mapped out the scenario of a novel; 
Bok had sketched out the headings of a series of analyt- 
ical articles. Neither one could see the other's view- 
point, Kipling contending for the greater power of fic- 
tion and Bok strongly arguing for the value of the direct 
essay. In this instance, the point was never settled, 
for the work failed to materialize in any form ! 

If the readers of The Ladies' Home Journal were quick 
to support its editor when he presented an idea that ap- 
pealed to them, they were equally quick to tell him when 
he gave them something of which they did not approve. 
An illustration of this occurred during the dance-craze 
that preceded the Great War. In 19 14, America was 
dance-mad, and the character of the dances rapidly grew 
more and more offensive. Bok's readers, by the hun- 
dreds, urged him to come out against the tendency. 

The editor looked around and found that the country's 
terpsichorean idols were Mr. and Mrs. Vernon Castle; 



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HOW MILLIONS OF PEOPLE ARE REACHED 385 

he decided that, with their cooperation, he might, by 
thus going to the fountainhead, effect an improvement 
through the introduction, by the Castles, of better and 
more decorous new dances. Bok could see no reason why 
the people should not dance, if they wanted to, so long 
as they kept within the bounds of decency. 

He found the Castles willing and eager to cooperate, 
not only because of the publicity it would mean for them, 
but because they were themselves not in favor of the new 
mode. They had little sympathy for the elimination 
of the graceful dance by the introduction of what they 
called the "shuffle" or the "bunny-hug," "turkey- 
trot," and other ungraceful and unworthy dances. 
It was decided that the Castles should, through Bok's 
magazine and their own public exhibitions, revive the 
gavotte, the polka, and finally the waltz. They would 
evolve these into new forms and Bok would present them 
pictorially. A series of three double-page presentations 
was decided upon, allowing for large photographs so 
that the steps could be easily seen and learned from the 
printed page. 

The magazine containing the first "lesson" was no 
sooner published than protests began to come in by the 
hundreds. Bok had not stated his object, and the 
public misconstrued his effort and purpose into an 
acknowledgment that he had fallen a victim to the pre- 
vailing craze. He explained in letters, but to no pur- 
pose. Try as he might, Bok could not rid the pages of 
the savor of the cabaret. He published the three 
dances as agreed, but he realized he had made a mis- 
take, and was as much disgusted as were his readers. 



386 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

Nor did he, in the slightest degree, improve the dance 
situation. The public refused to try the new Castle 
dances, and kept on turkey-trotting and bunny-hugging. 

The Ladies' Home Journal followed the Castle les- 
sons with a series of the most beautiful dances of Madam 
Pavlowa, the Russian dancer, hoping to remove the un- 
favorable impression of the former series. But it was 
only partially successful. Bok had made a mistake in 
recognizing the craze at all; he should have ignored it, 
as he had so often in the past ignored other temporary, 
superficial hysterics of the public. The Journal readers 
knew the magazine had made a mistake and frankly 
said so. 

Which shows that, even after having been for over 
twenty-five years in the editorial chair, Edward Bok 
was by no means infallible in his judgment of what the 
public wanted or would accept. 

No man is, for that matter. 



CHAPTER XXXIV 
A WAR MAGAZINE AND WAR ACTIVITIES 

When, early in 191 7, events began so to shape them- 
selves as directly to point to the entrance of the United 
States into the Great War, Edward Bok set himself to 
formulate a policy for The Ladies' Rome Journal. He 
knew that he was in an almost insurmountably difficult 
position. The huge edition necessitated going to press 
fully six weeks in advance of publication, and the 
preparation of material fully four weeks previous to that. 
He could not, therefore, get much closer than ten weeks 
to the date when his readers received the magazine. 
And he knew that events, in war time, had a way of 
moving rapidly. 

Late in January he went to Washington, consulted 
those authorities who could indicate possibilities to him 
better than any one else, and found, as he had suspected, 
that the entry of the United States into the war was a 
practical certainty; it was only a question of time. 

Bok went South for a month's holiday to get ready for 
the fray, and in the saddle and on the golf links he formu- 
lated a policy. The newspapers and weeklies would 
send innumerable correspondents to the front, and ob- 
viously, with the necessity for going to press so far in 
advance, The Journal could not compete with them. 
They would depict every activity in the field. There 
was but one logical thing for him to do: ignore the 
"front" entirely, refuse all the offers of correspondents, 

387 



388 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

men and women, who wanted to go with the armies for 
his magazine, and cover fully and practically the results 
of the war as they would affect the women left behind. 
He went carefully over the ground to see what these 
would be, along what particular lines women's activi- 
ties would be most likely to go, and then went home and 
back to Washington. 

It was now March. He conferred with the President, 
had his fears confirmed, and offered all the resources of 
his magazine to the government. His diagnosis of the 
situation was verified in every detail by the authorities 
whom he consulted. The Ladies' Home Journal could 
best serve by keeping up the morale at home and by 
helping to meet the problems that would confront the 
women; as the President said: "Give help in the second 
line of defense." 

A year before, Bok had opened a separate editorial 
office in Washington and had secured Dudley Harmon, 
the Washington correspondent for The New York Sun, 
as his editor-in-charge. The purpose was to bring the 
women of the country into a clearer understanding of 
their government and a closer relation with it. This 
work had been so successful as to necessitate a force of 
four offices and twenty stenographers. Bok now placed 
this Washington office on a war-basis, bringing it into 
close relation with every department of the govern- 
ment that would be connected with the war activities. 
By this means, he had an editor and an organized force 
on the spot, devoting full time to the preparation of war 
material, with Mr. Harmon in daily conference with the 
department chiefs to secure the newest developments. 



A WAR MAGAZINE 389 

Bok learned that the country's first act would be to 
recruit for the navy, so as to get this branch of the ser- 
vice into a state of preparedness. He therefore se- 
cured Franklin D. Roosevelt, assistant secretary of the 
navy, to write an article explaining to mothers why 
they should let their boys volunteer for the Navy and 
what it would mean to them. 

He made arrangements at the American Red Cross 
Headquarters for an official department to begin at once 
in the magazine, telling women the first steps that would 
be taken by the Red Cross and how they could help. 
He secured former President William Howard Taft, as 
chairman of the Central Committee of the Red Cross, 
for the editor of this department. 

He cabled to Viscount NorthclifTe and Ian Hay for 
articles showing what the English women had done at 
the outbreak of the war, the mistakes they had made, 
what errors the American women should avoid, the 
right lines along which English women had worked and 
how their American sisters could adapt these methods 
to transatlantic conditions. 

And so it happened that when the first war issue of 
The Journal appeared on April 20th, only three weeks 
after the President's declaration, it was the only monthly 
that recognized the existence of war, and its pages had 
already begun to indicate practical lines along which 
women could help. 

The President planned to bring the Y. M. C. A. into 
the service by making it a war-work body, and Bok im- 
mediately made arrangements for a page to appear 
each month under the editorship of John R. Mott, 



390 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

general secretary of the International Y. M. C. A. 
Committee. 

The editor had been told that the question of food 
would come to be of paramount importance; he knew 
that Herbert Hoover had been asked to return to 
America as soon as he could close his work abroad, and 
he cabled over to his English representative to arrange 
that the proposed Food Administrator should know, at 
first hand, of the magazine and its possibilities for the 
furtherance of the proposed Food Administration work. 

The Food Administration was no sooner organized 
than Bok made arrangements for an authoritative de- 
partment to be conducted in his magazine, reflecting 
the plans and desires of the Food Administration, and 
Herbert Hoover's first public declaration as food ad- 
ministrator to the women of America was published in 
The Ladies' Home Journal. Bok now placed all the 
resources of his four-color press-work at Mr. Hoover's 
disposal; and the Food Administration's domestic 
experts, in conjunction with the full culinary staff of 
the magazine, prepared the new war dishes and pre- 
sented them appetizingly in full colors under the per- 
sonal endorsement of Mr. Hoover and the Food Adminis- 
tration. From six to sixteen articles per month were 
now coming from Mr. Hoover's department alone. 

The Department of Agriculture was laid under con- 
tribution by the magazine for the best ideas for the rais- 
ing of food from the soil in the creation of war-gardens. 

Doctor Anna Howard Shaw had been appointed 
chairman of the National Committee of the Women's 
Council of National Defence, and Bok arranged at 



A WAR MAGAZINE 391 

once with her that she should edit a department page 
in his magazine, setting forth the plans of the committee 
and how the women of America could co-operate there- 
with. 

The magazine had thus practically become the semi- 
official mouthpiece of all the various government war 
bureaus and war-work bodies. James A. Flaherty, 
supreme knight of the Knights of Columbus, explained 
the proposed work of that body; Commander Evan- 
geline Booth presented the plans of the Salvation Army, 
and Mrs. Robert E. Speer, president of the National 
Board of the Young Women's Christian Association, 
reflected the activities of her organization; while the 
President's daughter, Miss Margaret Wilson, discussed 
her work for the opening of all schoolhouses as com- 
munity war-centres. 

The magazine reflected in full-color pictures the life and 
activities of the boys in the American camps, and Wil- 
liam C. Gorgas, surgeon-general of the United States, 
was the spokesman in the magazine for the health of the 
boys. 

Secretary of the Treasury McAdoo interpreted the 
first Liberty Loan " drive " to the women; the President 
of the United States, in a special message to women, 
wrote in behalf of the subsequent Loan; Bernard Baruch, 
as chairman of the War Industries Board, made clear the 
need for war-time thrift; the recalled ambassador to 
Germany, James W. Gerard, told of the ingenious plans 
resorted to by German women which American women 
could profitably copy; and Elizabeth, Queen of the 
Belgians, explained the plight of the babies and children 



392 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

of Belgium, and made a plea to the women of the maga- 
zine to help. So straight to the point did the Queen 
write, and so well did she present her case that within 
six months there had been sent to her, through The 
Ladies' Home Journal, two hundred and forty-eight 
thousand cans of condensed milk, seventy-two thousand 
cans of pork and beans, five thousand cans of infants' 
prepared food, eighty thousand cans of beef soup, and 
nearly four thousand bushels of wheat, purchased with 
the money donated by the magazine readers. 

On the coming of the coal question, the magazine im- 
mediately reflected the findings and recommendations 
of the Fuel Administration, and Doctor H. A. Garfield, 
as fuel administrator, placed the material of his Bureau 
at the disposal of the magazine's Washington editor. 

The Committee on Public Information now sought 
the magazine for the issuance of a series of official an- 
nouncements explanatory of matters to women. 

When the "meatless" and the "wheatless" days were 
inaugurated, the women of America found that the maga- 
zine had anticipated their coming; and the issue appear- 
ing on the first of these days, as publicly announced by 
the Food Administration, presented pages of substitutes 
in full colors. 

Of course, miscellaneous articles on the war there 
were, without number. Before the war was ended, the 
magazine did send a representative to the front in 
Catherine Van Dyke, who did most effective work for 
the magazine in articles of a general nature. The full- 
page battle pictures, painted from data furnished by 
those who took actual part, were universally commended 



A WAR MAGAZINE 393 

and exhausted even the largest editions that could be 
printed. A source of continual astonishment was the 
number of copies of the magazine found among the boys 
in France; it became the third in the official War Depart- 
ment list of the most desired American periodicals, 
evidently representing a tie between the boys and their 
home folks. But all these "war" features, while ap- 
preciated and desirable, were, after all, but a side-issue 
to the more practical economic work of the magazine. 
It was in this service that the magazine excelled, it was 
for this reason that the women at home so eagerly 
bought it, and that it was impossible to supply each 
month the editions called for by the extraordinary de- 
mand. 

Considering the difficulties to be surmounted, due to 
the advance preparation of material, and considering 
that, at the best, most of its advance information, even 
by the highest authorities, could only be in the nature 
of surmise, the comprehensive manner in which The 
Ladies' How>e Journal covered every activity of women 
during the Great War, will always remain one of the 
magazine's most noteworthy achievements. This can 
be said without reserve here, since the credit is due to 
no single person; it was the combined, careful work of 
its entire staff, weighing every step before it was taken, 
looking as clearly into the future as circumstances made 
possible, and always seeking the most authoritative 
sources of information. 

Bok merely directed. Each month, before his maga- 
zine went to press, he sought counsel and vision from at 
least one of three of the highest sources; and upon this 



394 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

guidance, as authoritative as anything could be in times 
of war when no human vision can actually foretell what 
the next day will bring forth, he acted. The result, as 
one now looks back upon it, was truly amazing; an un- 
canny timeliness would often color material on publica- 
tion day. Of course, much of this was due to the close 
government co-operation, so generously and painstak- 
ingly given. 

With the establishment of the various war boards in 
Washington, Bok received overtures to associate him- 
self exclusively with them and move to the capital. 
He sought the best advice and with his own instincts 
pointing in the same way, he decided that he could give 
his fullest service by retaining his editorial position and 
adding to that such activities as his leisure allowed. He 
undertook several private commissions for the United 
States Government, and then he was elected vice-presi- 
dent of the Philadelphia Belgian Relief Commission. 

With the Belgian consul-general for the United States, 
Mr. Paul Hagemans, as the president of the Commis- 
sion, and guided by his intimate knowledge of the Bel- 
gian people, Bok selected a committee of the ablest 
buyers and merchants in the special lines of foods which 
he would have to handle. The Commission raised 
hundreds of thousands of dollars, with which it pur- 
chased foods and chartered ships. The quantities of 
food ran into prodigious figures; Bok felt that he was 
feeding the world; and yet when the holds of the ships 
began to take in the thousands of crates of canned 
goods, the bags of peas and beans, and the endless tins 
of condensed milk, it was amazing how the piled-up 



WAR ACTIVITIES 395 

boxes melted from the piers and the ship-holds yawned 
for more. Flour was sent in seemingly endless hundreds 
of barrels. 

Each line of goods was bought by a specialist on the 
Committee at the lowest quantity prices; and the re- 
sult was that the succession of ships leaving the port of 
Philadelphia was a credit to the generosity of the people 
of the city and the commonwealth. The Commission 
delegated one of its members to go to Belgium and 
personally see that the food actually reached the needy 
Belgian people. 

In September, 191 7, word was received from John 
R. Mott that Bok had been appointed State chairman 
for the Y. M. C. A. War Work Council for Pennsylvania; 
that a country-wide campaign for twenty-five million 
dollars would be launched six weeks hence, and that 
Pennsylvania's quota was three millions of dollars. 
He was to set up an organization throughout the State, 
conduct the drive from Philadelphia, speak at various 
centres in Pennsylvania, and secure the allocated quota. 
Bok knew little or nothing about the work of the Y. M. 
C. A.; he accordingly went to New York headquarters 
and familiarized himself with the work being done and 
proposed; and then began to set up his State machinery. 
The drive came off as scheduled, Pennsylvania doubled 
its quota, subscribing six instead of three millions of 
dollars, and of this was collected five million eight hun- 
dred and twenty-nine thousand dollars — almost one 
hundred per cent. 

Bok, who was now put on the National War Work 
Council of the Y. M. C. A. at New York, was asked to 



396 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

take part in the creation of the machinery necessary for 
the gigantic piece of work that the organization had been 
called upon by the President of the United States to do. 
It was a herculean task; practically impossible with any 
large degree of efficiency in view of the almost insur- 
mountable obstacles to be contended with. But step 
by step the imperfect machinery was set up, and it be- 
gan to function in the home camps. Then the overseas 
work was introduced by the first troops going to France, 
and the difficulties increased a hundredfold. 

But Bok's knowledge of the workings of the govern- 
ment departments at Washington, the war boards, and 
the other war-work organizations soon convinced him 
that the Y. M. C. A. was not the only body, asked to set 
up an organization almost overnight, that was staggering 
under its load and falling down as often as it was func- 
tioning. 

The need for Y. M. C. A. secretaries overseas and in 
the camps soon became acute, and Bok was appointed 
chairman of the Philadelphia Recruiting Committee. 
As in the case of his Belgian relief work, he at once sur- 
rounded himself with an able committee: this time 
composed of business and professional men trained in a 
knowledge of human nature in the large, and of wide 
acquaintance in the city. Simultaneously, Bok secured 
the release of one of the ablest men in the Y. M. C. A. 
service in New York, Edward S. Wilkinson, who became 
the permanent secretary of the Philadelphia Committee. 
Bok organized a separate committee composed of auto- 
mobile manufacturers to recruit for chauffeurs and 
mechanicians; another separate committee recruited for 



WAR ACTIVITIES 397 

physical directors, and later a third committee recruited 
for women. 

The work was difficult because the field of selection 
was limited. No men between the military ages could 
be recruited; the War Boards at Washington had drawn 
heavily upon the best men of the city; the slightest 
physical defect barred out a man, on account of the ex- 
posure and strain of the Y. M. C. A. work; the residue 
was not large. 

It was scarcely to be wondered at that so many in- 
competent secretaries had been passed and sent over 
to France. How could it have been otherwise with the 
restricted selection? But the Philadelphia Committee 
was determined, nevertheless, that its men should be 
of the best, and it decided that to get a hundred men of 
unquestioned ability would be to do a greater job than 
to send over two hundred men of indifferent quality. 
The Committee felt that enough good men were still in 
Philadelphia and the vicinity, if they could be pried 
loose from their business and home anchorages, and that 
it was rather a question of incessant work than an im- 
possible task. 

Bok took large advertising spaces in the Philadelphia 
newspapers, asking for men of exceptional character 
to go to France in the service of the Y. M. C. A.; and 
members of the Committee spoke before the different 
commercial bodies at their noon luncheons. The ap- 
plicants now began to come, and the Committee began 
its discriminating selection. Each applicant was care- 
fully questioned by the secretary before he appeared be- 
fore the Committee, which held sittings twice a week. 



398 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

Hence of over twenty-five hundred applicants, only 
three hundred appeared before the Committee, of 
whom two hundred and fifty-eight were passed and sent 
overseas. 

The Committee's work was exceptionally successful; 
it soon proved of so excellent a quality as to elicit a 
cabled request from Paris headquarters to send more 
men of the Philadelphia type. The secret of this lay 
in the sterling personnel of the Committee itself, and its 
interpretation of the standards required; and so well 
did it work that when Bok left for the front to be absent 
from Philadelphia for ten weeks, his Committee, with 
Thomas W. Hulme, of the Pennsylvania Railroad, act- 
ing as Chairman, did some of its best work. 

The after-results, according to the report of the New 
York headquarters, showed that no Y. M. C. A. recruit- 
ing committee had equalled the work of the Philadelphia 
committee in that its men, in point of service, had 
proved one hundred per cent secretaries. With two 
exceptions, the entire two hundred and fifty-eight men 
passed, brought back one hundred per cent records, 
some of them having been placed in the most important 
posts abroad and having given the most difficult ser- 
vice. The work of the other Philadelphia committees, 
particularly that of the Women's Committee, was equally 
good. 

To do away with the multiplicity of "drives," rapidly 
becoming a drain upon the efforts of the men engaged 
in them, a War Chest Committee was now formed in 
Philadelphia and vicinity to collect money for all the 
war-work agencies. Bok was made a member of the 



WAR ACTIVITIES 399 

Executive Committee, and chairman of the Publicity 
Committee. In May, 1918, a campaign for twenty 
millions of dollars was started; the amount was sub- 
scribed, and although much of it had to be collected 
after the armistice, since the subscriptions were in 
twelve monthly payments, a total of fifteen and a half 
million dollars was paid in and turned over to the 
different agencies. 

Bok, who had been appointed one of the Boy Scout 
commissioners in his home district of Merion, saw the 
possibilities of the Boy Scouts in the Liberty Loan and 
other campaigns. Working in co-operation with the 
other commissioners, and the scoutmaster of the Merion 
Troop, Bok supported the boys in their work in each 
campaign as it came along. Although there were in the 
troop only nine boys, in ages ranging from twelve to 
fourteen years — Bok's younger son was one of them — 
so effectively did these youngsters work under the in- 
spiration of the scoutmaster, Thomas Dun Belfield, that 
they soon attracted general attention and acquired dis- 
tinction as one of the most efficient troops in the vicinity 
of Philadelphia. They won nearly all the prizes offered 
in their vicinity, and elicited the. special approval of the 
Secretary of the Treasury. 

Although only "gleaners" in most of the campaigns 
— -that is, working only in the last three days after 
the regular committees had scoured the neighborhood — 
these Merion Boy Scouts sold over one million four hun- 
dred thousand dollars in Liberty Bonds, and raised 
enough money in the Y. M. C. A. campaign to erect 
one of the largest huts in France for the army boys, and 



400 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

a Y. M. C. A. gymnasium at the League Island Navy 
Yard accommodating two thousand sailor-boys. 

In the summer of 191 8, the eight leading war-work 
agencies, excepting the Red Cross, were merged, for 
the purpose of one drive for funds, into the United War 
Work Campaign, and Bok was made chairman for Penn- 
sylvania. In November a country-wide campaign was 
launched, the quota for Pennsylvania being twenty mil- 
lions of dollars— the largest amount ever asked of the 
commonwealth. Bok organized a committee of the 
representative men of Pennsylvania, and proceeded to 
set up the machinery to secure the huge sum. He had 
no sooner done this, however, than he had to sail for 
France, returning only a month before the beginning of 
the campaign. 

But the efficient committee had done its work; upon 
his return Bok found the organization complete. On 
the first day of the campaign, the false rumor that an 
armistice had been signed made the raising of the large 
amount seem almost hopeless; furthermore, owing to 
the influenza raging throughout the commonwealth, no 
public meetings had been permitted or held. Still, 
despite all these obstacles, not only was the twenty 
millions subscribed but oversubscribed to the extent 
of nearly a million dollars; and in face of the fact that 
every penny of this large total had to be collected 
after the signing of the armistice, twenty millions of 
dollars was paid in and turned over to the war agen- 
cies. 

It is indeed a question whether any single war act 
on the part of the people of Pennsylvania redounds 



WAR ACTIVITIES 401 

so highly to their credit as this marvellous evidence of 
patriotic generosity. It was one form of patriotism to 
subscribe so huge a sum while the war was on and the 
guns were firing; it was quite another and a higher pa- 
triotism to subscribe and pay such a sum after the war 
was over ! 

Bok's position as State chairman of the United War 
Work Campaign made it necessary for him to follow 
authoritatively and closely the work of each of the eight 
different organizations represented in the fund. Be- 
cause he felt he had to know what the Knights of Co- 
lumbus, the Salvation Army, the Y. W. C. A., and the 
others were doing with the money he had been instru- 
mental in collecting, and for which he felt, as chairman, 
responsible to the people of Pennsylvania, he learned to 
know their work just as thoroughly as he knew what the 
Y. M. C. A. was doing. 

He had now seen and come into personal knowledge 
of the work of the Y. M. C. A. from his Philadelphia 
point of vantage, with his official connection with it at 
New York headquarters; he had seen the work as it 
was done in the London and Paris headquarters; and 
he had seen the actual work in the American camps, the 
English rest-camps, back of the French lines, in the 
trenches, and as near the firing-line as he had been per- 
mitted to go. 

He had, in short, seen the Y. M. C. A. function from 
every angle, but he had also seen the work of the other 
organizations in England and France, back of the lines 
and in the trenches. He found them all faulty — neces- 
sarily so. Each had endeavored to create an organiza- 



402 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

tion within an incredibly short space of time and in the 
face of adverse circumstances. Bok saw at once that 
the charge that the Y. M. C. A. was "falling down" 
in its work was as false as that the Salvation Army was 
doing "a marvellous work" and that the K. of C. was 
"efficient where others were incompetent," and that the 
Y. W. C. A. was "nowhere to be seen." 

The Salvation Army was unquestionably doing an 
excellent piece of work within a most limited area; it 
could not be on a wider scale, when one considered the 
limited personnel it had at its command. The work of 
the K. of C. was not a particle more or less efficient than 
the work of the other organizations. What it did, it 
strove to do well, but so did the others. The Y. W. C. A. 
made little claim about its work in France, since the 
United States Government would not, until nearly at 
the close of the war, allow women to be sent over in the 
uniforms of any of the war-work organizations. But no 
one can gainsay for a single moment the efficient service 
rendered by the Y. W. C. A. in its hostess-house work in 
the American camps; that work alone would have en- 
titled it to the support of the American people. That 
of the Y. M. C. A. was on so large a scale that naturally 
its inefficiency was often in proportion to its magnitude. 

Bok was in France when the storm of criticism against 
the Y. M. C. A. broke out, and, as State chairman for 
Pennsylvania, it was his duty to meet the outcry when 
it came over to the United States. That the work of the 
Y. M. C. A. was faulty no one can deny. Bok saw the 
"holes" long before they were called to the attention of 
the public, but he also saw the almost impossible task, 



WAR ACTIVITIES 403 

in face of prevailing difficulties, of caulking them up. 
No one who was not in France can form any conception 
of the practically insurmountable obstacles against which 
all the war- work organizations worked; and the larger 
the work the greater were the obstacles, naturally. 
That the Y. M. C. A. and the other similar agencies 
made mistakes is not the wonder so much as that they 
did not make more. The real marvel is that they did 
so much efficient work. For after we get a little farther 
away from the details and see the work of these agencies 
in its broader aspects, when we forget the lapses — which, 
after all, though irritating and regrettable, were not 
major — the record as a whole will stand as a most signal 
piece of volunteer service. 

What was actually accomplished was nothing short 
of marvellous; and it is this fact that must be borne 
in mind; not the omissions, but the commissions. And 
when the American public gets that point of view — as 
it will, and, for that matter, is already beginning to 
do — the work of the American Y. M. C. A. will no longer 
suffer for its omissions, but will amaze and gladden by 
its accomplishments. As an American officer of high 
rank said to Bok at Chaumont headquarters: "The 
mind cannot take in what the war would have been with- 
out the 'Y.'" And that, in time, will be the universal 
American opinion, extended, in proportion to their 
work, to all the war-work agencies and the men and 
women who endured, suffered, and were killed in their 
service. 



CHAPTER XXXV 

AT THE BATTLE-FRONTS IN THE GREAT WAR 

It was in the summer of 191 8 that Edward Bok re- 
ceived from the British Government, through its depart- 
ment of public information, of which Lord Beaverbrook 
was the minister, an invitation to join a party of thirteen 
American editors to visit Great Britain and France. The 
British Government, not versed in publicity methods, 
was anxious that selected parties of American publicists 
should see, personally, what Great Britain had done, and 
was doing in the war; and it had decided to ask a few 
individuals to pay personal visits to its munition fac- 
tories, its great aerodromes, its Great Fleet, which then 
lay in the Firth of Forth, and to the battle-fields. It 
was understood that no specific obligation rested upon 
any member of the party to write of what he saw: he 
was asked simply to observe and then, with discretion, 
use his observations for his own guidance and informa- 
tion in future writing. In fact, each member was ex- 
plicitly told that much of what he would see could not 
be revealed either personally or in print. 

The party embarked in August amid all the at- 
tendant secrecy of war conditions. The steamer was 
known only by a number, although later it turned out 
to be the White Star liner, Adriatic. Preceded by a 
powerful United States cruiser, flanked by destroyers, 

guided overhead by observation balloons, the Adriatic 

404 



AT THE BATTLE-FRONTS 405 

was found to be the first ship in a convoy of sixteen other 
ships with thirty thousand United States troops on 
board. 

It was a veritable Armada that steamed out of lower 
New York harbor on that early August morning, headed 
straight into the rising sun. But it was a voyage of un- 
pleasant war reminders, with life-savers carried every 
moment of the day, with every light out at night, with 
every window and door as if hermetically sealed so that 
the stuffy cabins deprived of sleep those accustomed to 
fresh air, with over sixty army men and civilians on 
watch at night, with life-drills each day, with lessons as 
to behavior in life-boats; and with a fleet of eighteen 
British destroyers meeting the convoy upon its approach 
to the Irish Coast after a thirteen days' voyage of con- 
stant anxiety. No one could say he travelled across the 
Atlantic Ocean in war days for pleasure, and no one did. 

Once ashore, the party began a series of inspections of 
munition plants, ship-yards, aeroplane factories and of 
meetings with the different members of the English War 
Cabinet. Luncheons and dinners were the order of each 
day until broken by a journey to Edinburgh to see the 
amazing Great Fleet, with the addition of six of the fore- 
most fighting machines of the United States Navy, all 
straining like dogs at leash, awaiting an expected dash 
from the bottled-up German fleet. It was a formidable 
sight, perhaps never equalled: those lines of huge, men- 
acing, and yet protecting fighting machines stretching 
down the river for miles, all conveying the single thought 
of the power and extent of the British Navy and its 
formidable character as a fighting unit. 



406 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

It was upon his return to London that Bok learned, 
through the confidence of a member of the British 
"inner circle," the amazing news that the war was prac- 
tically over: that Bulgaria had capitulated and was 
suing for peace; that two of the Central Power provinces 
had indicated their strong desire that the war should 
end; and that the first peace intimations had gone to the 
President of the United States. All diplomatic eyes were 
turned toward Washington. Yet not a hint of the im- 
pending events had reached the public. The Germans 
were being beaten back, that was known; it was evident 
that the morale of the German army was broken; that 
Foch had turned the tide toward victory; but even the 
best-informed military authorities, outside of the inner 
diplomatic circles, predicted that the war would last 
until the spring of 1919, when a final "drive" would 
end it. Yet, at that very moment, the end of the war 
was in sight ! 

Next Bok went to France to visit the battle-fields. 
It was arranged that the party should first, under guid- 
ance of British officers, visit back of the British lines; 
and then, successively, be turned over to the American 
and French Governments, and visit the operations 
back of their armies. 

It is an amusing fact that although each detail of 
officers delegated to escort the party "to the front" 
received the most explicit instructions from their su- 
perior officers to take the party only to the quiet sectors 
where there was no fighting going on, each detail from 
the three governments successively brought the party 
directly under shell-fire, and each on the first day of the 



AT THE BATTLE-FRONTS 407 

"inspection." It was unconsciously done: the officers 
were as much amazed to find themselves under fire as 
were the members of the party, except that the latter 
did not feel the responsibility to an equal degree. The 
officers, in each case, were plainly worried: the editors 
were intensely interested. 

They were depressing trips through miles and miles of 
devastated villages and small cities. From two to three 
days each were spent in front-line posts on the Amiens- 
Bethune, Albert-Peronne, Bapaume-Soissons, St. Mihiel, 
and back of the Argonne sectors. Often, the party was 
the first civilian group to enter a town evacuated only a 
week before, and all the horrible evidence of bloody war- 
fare was fresh and plain. Bodies of German soldiers lay 
in the trenches where they had fallen; wired bombs were 
on every hand, so that no object could be touched that 
lay on the battle-fields; the streets of some of the towns 
were still mined, so that no automobiles could enter; 
the towns were deserted, the streets desolate. It was an 
appalling panorama of the most frightful results of war. 

The picturesqueness and romance of the war of picture 
books were missing. To stand beside an English battery 
of thirty guns laying a barrage as they fired their shells 
to a point ten miles distant, made one feel as if one were 
an actual part of real warfare, and yet far removed from 
it, until the battery was located from the enemy's 
"sausage observation"; then the shells from the enemy 
fired a return salvo, and the better part of valor was 
discretion a few miles farther back. 

The amazing part of the "show," however, was the 
American doughboy. Never was there a more cheerful, 



408 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

laughing, good-natured set of boys in the world; never 
a more homesick, lonely, and complaining set. But 
good nature predominated, and the smile was always 
uppermost, even when the moment looked the black- 
est, the privations were worst, and the longing for home 
the deepest. 

Bok had been talking to a boy who lived near his own 
home, who was on his way to the front and "over the 
top" in the Argonne mess. Three days afterward, at 
a hospital base where a hospital train was just dis- 
charging its load of wounded, Bok walked among the 
boys as they lay on their stretchers on the railroad plat- 
form waiting for bearers to carry them into the huts. 
As he approached one stretcher, a cheery voice called, 
"Hello, Mr. Bok. Here I am again." 

It was the boy he had left just seventy-two hours be- 
fore hearty and well. 

"Well, my boy, you weren't in it long, were you?" 

"No, sir," answered the boy; "Fritzie sure got me 
first thing. Hadn't gone a hundred yards over the top. 
Got a cigarette?" (the invariable question). 

Bok handed a cigarette to the boy, who then said: 
"Mind sticking it in my mouth ? " Bok did so and then 
offered him a light; the boy continued, all with his won- 
derful smile: "If you don't mind, would you just light 
it? You see, Fritzie kept both of my hooks as sou- 
venirs." 

With both arms amputated, the boy could still jest 
and smile ! 

It was the same boy who on his hospital cot the next 
day said: "Don't you think you could do something for 



AT THE BATTLE-FRONTS 409 

the chap next to me, there on my left ? He's really suf- 
fering: cried like hell all last night. It would be a God- 
send if you could get Doc to do something." 

A promise was given that the surgeon should be seen 
at once, but the boy was asked: "How about you?" 

"Oh," came the cheerful answer, "I'm all right. I 
haven't anything to hurt. My wounded members are 
gone — just plain gone. But that chap has got something 
— he got the real thing !" 

What was the real thing according to such a boy's 
idea? 

There were beautiful stories that one heard "over 
there." One of the most beautiful acts of consideration 
was told, later, of a lovable boy whose throat had been 
practically shot away. During his convalescence he 
had learned the art of making beaded bags. It kept him 
from talking, the main prescription. But one day he 
sold the bag which he had first made to a visitor, and 
with his face radiant with glee he sought the nurse- 
mother to tell her all about his good fortune. Of course, 
nothing but a series of the most horrible guttural sounds 
came from the boy : not a word could be understood. It 
was his first venture into the world with the loss of his 
member, and the nurse-mother could not find it in her 
heart to tell the boy that not a word which he spoke was 
understandable. With eyes full of tears she placed both 
of her hands on the boy's shoulders and said to him: "I 
am so sorry, my boy. I cannot understand a word you 
say to me. You evidently do not know that I am totally 
deaf. Won't you write what you want to tell me?" 

A look of deepest compassion swept the face of the 



410 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

boy. To think that one could be so afflicted, and yet so 
beautifully tender and always so radiantly cheerful, he 
wrote her. 

Pathos and humor followed rapidly one upon the 
other "at the front" in those gruesome days, and 
Bok was to have his spirits lightened somewhat by an 
incident of the next day. He found himself in one of 
the numerous little towns where our doughboys were 
billeted, some in the homes of the peasants, others in 
stables, barns, outhouses, lean-tos, and what not. 
These were the troops on their way to the front where 
the fighting in the Argonne Forest was at that time go- 
ing on. As Bok was walking with an American officer, 
the ^tter pointed to a doughboy crossing the road, fol- 
lowed by as disreputable a specimen of a pig as he had 
ever seen. Catching Bok's smile, the officer said: 
"That's Pinney and his porker. Where you see the 
one you see the other.' ' 

Bok caught up with the boy, and said: "Found a 
friend, I see, Buddy?" 

"I sure have," grinned the doughboy, "and it sticks 
closer than a poor relation, too." 

"Where did you pick it up?" 

"Oh, in there," said the soldier, pointing to a di- 
lapidated barn. 

"Why in there?" 

"My home," grinned the boy. 

"Let me see," said Bok, and the doughboy took him 
in with the pig following close behind. "Billeted here — 
been here six days. The pig was here when we came, 
and the first night I lay down and slept, it came up to 



AT THE BATTLE-FRONTS 411 

me and stuck its snout in my face and woke me up. 
Kind enough, all right, but not very comfortable: it 
stinks so." 

"Yes; it certainly does. What did you do?" 

"Oh, I got some grub I had and gave it to eat: 
thought it might be hungry, you know. I guess that 
sort of settled it, for the next night it came again and 
stuck its snout right in my mug. I turned around, but 
it just climbed over me and there it was." 

"Well, what did you do then? Chase it out?" 

"Chase it out ? " said the doughboy, looking into Bok's 
face with the most unaffected astonishment. "Why, 
mister, that's a mother-pig, that is. She's going to have 
young ones in a few days. How could I chase her 
out?" 

"You're quite right, Buddy," said Bok. "You 
couldn't do that." 

"Oh, no," said the boy. "The worst of it is, what am 
I going to do with her when we move up within a day or 
two ? I can't take her along to the front, and I hate to 
leave her here. Some one might treat her rough." 

"Captain," said Bok, hailing the officer, "you can 
attend to that, can't you, when the time comes?" 

"I sure can, and I sure will," answered the Captain. 
And with a quick salute, Pinney and his porker went off 
across the road ! 

Bok was standing talking to the commandant of one 
of the great French army supply depots one morning. 
He was a man of forty; a colonel in the regular French 
army. An erect, sturdy-looking man with white hair 
and mustache, and who wore the single star of a subal- 



412 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

tern on his sleeve, came up, saluted, delivered a message, 
and then asked : 

"Are there any more orders, sir?" 

"No," was the reply. 

He brought his heels together with a click, saluted 
again, and went away. 

The commandant turned to Bok with a peculiar smile 
on his face and asked: 

"Do you know who that man is?" 

"No," was the reply. 

"That is my father," was the answer. 

The father was then exactly seventy-two years old. 
He was a retired business man when the war broke out. 
After two years of the heroic struggle he decided that 
he couldn't keep out of it. He was too old to fight, but 
after long insistence he secured a commission. By one 
of the many curious coincidences of the war he was 
assigned to serve under his own son. 

When under the most trying conditions, the Ameri- 
cans never lost their sense of fun. On the staff of a 
prison hospital in Germany, where a number of captured 
American soldiers were being treated, a German ser- 
geant became quite friendly with the prisoners under 
his care. One day he told them that he had been ordered 
to active service on the front. He felt convinced that 
he would be captured by the English, and asked the 
Americans if they would not give him some sort of testi- 
monial which he could show if he were taken prisoner, 
so that he would not be ill-treated. 

The Americans were much amused at this idea, and 
concocted a note of introduction, written in English. 
The German sergeant knew no English and could not 



AT THE BATTLE-FRONTS 413 

understand his testimonial, but he tucked it in his 
pocket, well satisfied. 

In due time, he was sent to the front and was captured 
by "the ladies from hell," as the Germans called the 
Scotch kilties. He at once presented his introduction, 
and his captors laughed heartily when they read : 

"This is L . He is not a bad sort of chap. 

Don't shoot him; torture him slowly to death." 

One evening as Bok was strolling out after dinner a 
Red Cross nurse came to him, explained that she had 
two severely wounded boys in what remained of an old 
hut: that they were both from Pennsylvania, and had 
expressed a great desire to see him as a resident of their 
State. 

"Neither can possibly survive the night," said the 
nurse. 

"They know that?" asked Bok. 

"Oh, yes, but like all our boys they are lying there 
joking with each other." 

Bok was taken into what remained of a room in a 
badly shelled farmhouse, and there, on two roughly 
constructed cots, lay the two boys. Their faces had 
been bandaged so that nothing was visible except the 
eyes of each boy. A candle in a bottle standing on a 
box gave out the only light. But the eyes of the boys 
were smiling as Bok came in and sat down on the box 
on which the nurse had been sitting. He talked with 
the boys, got as much of their stories from them as he 
could, and told them such home news as he thought 
might interest them. 

After half an hour he arose to leave, when the nurse 
said: "There is no one here, Mr. Bok, to say the last 



414 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

words to these boys. Will you do it?" Bok stood 
transfixed. In sending men over in the service of the 
Y. M. C. A. he had several times told them to be ready 
for any act that they might be asked to render, even the 
most sacred one. And here he stood himself before that 
duty. He felt as if he stood stripped before his Maker. 
Through the glassless window the sky lit up constantly 
with the flashes of the guns, and then followed the boom- 
ing of a shell as it landed. 

"Yes, won't you, sir?" asked the boy on the right cot 
as he held out his hand. Bok took it, and then the 
hand of the other boy reached out. 

What to say, he did not know. Then, to his surprise, 
he heard himself repeating extract after extract from a 
book by Lyman Abbott called The Other Room, a mes- 
sage to the bereaved declaring the non-existence of 
death, but that we merely move from this earth to 
another: from one room to another, as it were. Bok 
had not read the book for years, but here was the sub- 
conscious self supplying the material for him in his 
moment of greatest need. Then he remembered that 
just before leaving home he had heard sung at matins, 
after the prayer for the President, a beautiful song called 
"Passing Souls." He had asked the rector for a copy 
of it; and, wondering why, he had put it in his wallet 
that he carried with him. He took it out now and 
holding the hand of the boy at his right, he read to them: 

For the passing souls we pray, 
Saviour, meet them on their way; 
Let their trust lay hold on Thee 
Ere they touch eternity. 



AT THE BATTLE-FRONTS 415 

Holy counsels long forgot 
Breathe again 'mid shell and shot; 
Through the mist of life's last pain 
None shall look to Thee in vain. 

To the hearts that know Thee, Lord, 
Thou wilt speak through flood or sword; 
Just beyond the cannon's roar, 
Thou art on the farther shore. 

For the passing souls we pray, 
Saviour, meet them on the way; 
Thou wilt hear our yearning call, 
Who hast loved and died for all. 

Absolute stillness reigned in the room save for the 
half-suppressed sob from the nurse and the distant boom- 
ing of the cannon. As Bok finished, he heard the boy 
at his right say slowly: " Saviour — meet — me — on — my 
— way ' ' : with a little emphasis on the word l ( my. ' ' The 
hand in his relaxed slowly, and then fell on the cot; 
and he saw that the soul of another brave American 
boy had "gone West." 

Bok glanced at the other boy, reached for his hand, 
shook it, and looking deep into his eyes, he left the little 
hut. 

He little knew where and how he was to look into 
those eyes again ! 

Feeling the need of air in order to get hold of himself 
after one of the most solemn moments of his visit to 
the front, Bok strolled out, and soon found himself on 
what only a few days before had been a field of carnage 



416 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

where the American boys had driven back the Ger- 
mans. Walking in the trenches and looking out, in the 
clear moonlight, over the field of desolation and ruin, 
and thinking of the inferno that had been enacted there 
only so recently, he suddenly felt his foot rest on what 
seemed to be a soft object. Taking his "ever-ready" 
flash from his pocket, he shot a ray at his feet, only to 
realize that his foot was resting on the face of a dead 
German ! 

Bok had had enough for one evening! In fact, he 
had had enough of war in all its aspects; and he felt a 
sigh of relief when, a few days thereafter, he boarded 
The Empress of Asia for home, after a ten-weeks 
absence. 

He hoped never again to see, at first hand, what war 
meant ! 



CHAPTER XXXVI 
THE END OF THIRTY YEARS' EDITORSHIP 

On the voyage home, Edward Bok decided that, now 
the war was over, he would ask his company to release 
him from the editorship of The Ladies' Home Journal. 
His original plan had been to retire at the end of a quarter 
of a century of editorship, when in his fiftieth year. He 
was, therefore, six years behind his schedule. In Octo- 
ber, 191 9, he would reach his thirtieth anniversary as 
editor, and he fixed upon this as an appropriate time for 
the relinquishment of his duties. 

He felt he had carried out the conditions under which 
the editorship of the magazine had been transferred to 
him by Mrs. Curtis, that he had brought them to fru- 
ition, and that any further carrying on of the periodical 
by him would be of a supplementary character. He 
had, too, realized his hope of helping to create a national 
institution of service to the American woman, and he felt 
that his part in the work was done. 

He considered carefully where he would leave an in- 
stitution which the public had so thoroughly associated 
with his personality, and he felt that at no point in its 
history could he so safely transfer it to other hands. 
The position of the magazine in the public estimation was 
unquestioned; it had never been so strong. Its circu- 
lation not only had outstripped that of any other monthly 
periodical, but it was still growing so rapidly that it 

417 



418 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

was only a question of a few months when it would reach 
the almost incredible mark of two million copies per 
month. With its advertising patronage exceeding that 
of any other monthly, the periodical had become, proba- 
bly, the most valuable and profitable piece of magazine 
property in the world. 

The time might never come again when all conditions 
would be equally favorable to a change of editorship. 
The position of the magazine was so thoroughly assured 
that its progress could hardly be affected by the retire- 
ment of one editor, and the accession of another. There 
was a competent editorial staff, the members of which 
had been with the periodical from ten to thirty years 
each. This staff had been a very large factor in the 
success of the magazine. While Bok had furnished the 
initiative and supplied the directing power, a large part 
of the editorial success of the magazine was due to the 
staff. It could carry on the magazine without his 
guidance. 

Moreover, Bok wished to say good-bye to his public 
before it decided, for some reason or other, to say good- 
bye to him. He had no desire to outstay his welcome. 
That public had been wonderfully indulgent toward his 
shortcomings, lenient with his errors, and tremendously 
inspiring to his best endeavor. He would not ask too 
much of it. Thirty years was a long tenure of office, one 
of the longest, in point of consecutively active editor- 
ship, in the history of American magazines. 

He had helped to create and to put into the life of 
the American home a magazine of peculiar distinction. 
From its beginning it had been unlike any other periodi- 



THE END OF THIRTY YEARS' EDITORSHIP 419 

cal; it had always retained its individuality as a maga- 
zine apart from the others. It had sought to be some- 
thing more than a mere assemblage of stories and articles. 
It had consistently stood for ideals; and, save in one or 
two instances, it had carried through what it undertook 
to achieve. It had a record of worthy accomplishment; 
a more fruitful record than many imagined. It had be- 
come a national institution such as no other magazine 
had ever been. It was indisputably accepted by the 
public and by business interests alike as the recognized 
avenue of approach to the intelligent homes of America. 

Edward Bok was content to leave it at this point. 

He explained all this in December, 19 18, to the Board 
of Directors, and asked that his resignation be con- 
sidered. It was understood that he was to serve out his 
thirty years, thus remaining with the magazine for the 
best part of another year. 

In the material which The Journal now included in its 
contents, it began to point the way to the problems which 
would face women during the reconstruction period. 
Bok scanned the rather crowded field of thought very 
carefully, and selected for discussion in the magazine 
such questions as seemed to him most important for the 
public to understand in ordei to face and solve its im- 
pending problems. The outstanding question he saw 
which would immediately face men and women of the 
country was the problem of Americanization. The 
war and its after-effects had clearly demonstrated this 
to be the most vital need in the life of the nation, 
not only for the foreign-born but for the American as 
well. 



420 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

The more one studied the problem the clearer it be- 
came that the vast majority of American-born needed 
a refreshing, and, in many cases, a new conception of 
American ideals as much as did the foreign-born, and 
that the latter could never be taught what America and 
its institutions stood for until they were more clearly 
defined in the mind of the men and women of American 
birth. 

Bok went to Washington, consulted with Franklin 
K. Lane, secretary of the interior, of whose department 
the Government Bureau of Americanization was a part. 
A comprehensive series of articles was outlined; the most 
expert writer, Esther Everett Lape, who had several 
years of actual experience in Americanization work, was 
selected; Secretary Lane agreed personally to read and 
pass upon the material, and to assume the responsibility 
for its publication. 

With the full and direct co-operation of the Federal 
Bureau of Americanization, the material was assembled 
and worked up with the result that, in the opinion of 
the director of the Federal Bureau, the series proved to 
be the most comprehensive exposition of practical Ameri- 
canization adapted to city, town, and village, thus far 
published. 

The work on this series was one of the last acts of 
Edward Bok's editorship; and it was peculiarly grati- 
fying to him that his editorial work should end with the 
exposition of that Americanization of which he himself 
was a product. It seemed a fitting close to the career 
of a foreign-born Americanized editor. 

The scope of the reconstruction articles now pub- 



THE END OF THIRTY YEARS' EDITORSHIP 421 

lished, and the clarity of vision shown in the selection 
of the subjects, gave a fresh impetus to the circulation 
of the magazine; and now that the government's em- 
bargo on the use of paper had been removed, the full 
editions of the periodical could again be printed. The 
public responded instantly. 

The result reached phenomenal figures. The last 
number under Bok's full editorial control was the 
issue of October, 19 19. This number was oversold with 
a printed edition of two million copies — a record never 
before achieved by any magazine. This same issue 
presented another record unattained in any single num- 
ber of any periodical in the world. It carried between 
its covers the amazing total of over one million dollars in 
advertisements. 

This was the psychological point at which to stop. 
And Edward Bok did. Although his official relation as 
editor did not terminate until January, 1920, when the 
number which contained his valedictory editorial was 
issued, his actual editorship ceased on September 22, 
1 91 9. On that day he handed over the reins to his suc- 
cessor. 

As Bok was, on that day, about to leave his desk 
for the last time, it was announced that a young soldier 
whom he "had met and befriended in France" was 
waiting to see him. When the soldier walked into 
the office he was to Bok only one of the many whom he 
had met on the other side. But as the boy shook hands 
with him and said: "I guess you do not remember 
me, Mr. Bok," there was something in the eyes into 
which he looked that startled him. And then, in a 



422 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

flash, the circumstances under which he had last seen 
those eyes came to him. 

"Good heavens, my boy, you are not one of those two 
boys in the little hut that I " 

"To whom you read the poem 'Passing Souls/ 
that evening. Yes, sir, I'm the boy who had hold of 
your left hand. My bunkie, Ben, went West that same 
evening, you remember." 

"Yes," replied the editor, "I remember; I remember 
only too well," and again Bok felt the hand in his relax, 
drop from his own, and heard the words: "Saviour — 
meet — me — on — my way." 

The boy's voice brought Bok back to the moment. 

"It's wonderful you should remember me; my face 
was all bound up — I guess you couldn't see anything 
but my eyes." 

"Just the eyes, that's right," said Bok. "But they 
burned into me all right, my boy." 

"I don't think I get you, sir," said the boy. 

"No, you wouldn't," Bok replied. "You couldn't, 
boy, not until you're older. But, tell me, how in the 
world did you ever get out of it?" 

"Well, sir," answered the boy, with that shyness 
which we all have come to know in the boys who actu- 
ally did, "I guess it was a close call, all right. But 
just as you left us, a hospital corps happened to come 
along on its way to the back and Miss Nelson — the 
nurse, you remember ? — she asked them to take me along. 
They took me to a wonderful hospital, gave me fine 
care, and then after a few weeks they sent me back to 
the States, and I've been in a hospital over here ever 



THE END OF THIRTY YEA&S' EDITORSHIP 423 

since. Now, except for this thickness of my voice that 
you notice, which Doc says will be all right soon, I'm 
fit again. The government has given me a job, and I 
came here on leave just to see my parents up-State, and 
I thought I'd like you to know that I didn't go West 
after all." 

Fifteen minutes later, Edward Bok left his editorial 
office for the last time. 

But as he went home his thoughts were not of his last 
day at the office, nor of his last acts as editor, but of his 
last caller — the soldier-boy whom he had left seemingly 
so surely on his way "West," and whose eyes had burned 
into his memory on that fearful night a year before ! 

Strange that this boy should have been his last visitor ! 

As John Drinkwater, in his play, makes Abraham 
Lincoln say to General Grant: 

"It's a queer world!" 



CHAPTER XXXVn 

THE THIRD PERIOD 

The announcement of Edward Bok's retirement came 
as a great surprise to his friends. Save for one here and 
there, who had a clearer vision, the feeling was general 
that he had made a mistake. He was fifty-six, in the 
prime of life, never in better health, with "success ly- 
ing easily upon him" — said one; "at the very summit 
of his career," said another — and all agreed it was 
"queer," "strange," — unless, they argued, he was really 
ill. Even the most acute students of human affairs 
among his friends wondered. It seemed incomprehensi- 
ble that any man should want to give up before he was, 
for some reason, compelled to dp so. A man should go 
on until he "dropped in the harness," they argued. 

Bok agreed that any man had a perfect right to work 
until he did "drop in the harness." But, he argued, 
if he conceded this right to others, why should they not 
concede to him the privilege of dropping with the 
blinders off ? 

"But," continued the argument, "a man degenerates 
when he retires from active affairs." And then, in- 
stances were pointed out as notable examples. "A 
year of retirement and he was through," was the picture 
given of one retired man. "In two years, he was glad 
to come back," and so the examples ran on. "No big 
man ever retired from active business and did great work 

afterwards," Bok was told. 

424 



THE THIRD PERIOD 425 

"No?" he answered. "Not even Cyrus W. Field 
or Herbert Hoover?" 

And all this time Edward Bok's failure to be entirely 
Americanized was brought home to his consciousness. 
After fifty years, he was still not an American ! He had 
deliberately planned, and then had carried out his plan, 
to retire while he still had the mental and physical ca- 
pacity to enjoy the fruits of his years of labor ! For for- 
eign to the American way of thinking it certainly was: 
the protestations and arguments of his friends proved 
that to him. After all, he was still Dutch; he had held 
on to the lesson which his people had learned years ago; 
that the people of other European countries had learned; 
that the English had discovered: that the Great Ad- 
venture of Life was something more than material work, 
and that the time to go is while the going is good ! 

For it cannot be denied that the pathetic picture we 
so often see is found in American business life more fre- 
quently than in that of any other land: men unable to 
let go — not only for their own good, but to give the 
younger men behind them an opportunity. Not that 
a man should stop work, for man was born to work, 
and in work he should find his greatest refreshment. 
But so often it does not occur to the man in a pivotal 
position to question the possibility that at sixty or sev- 
enty he can keep steadily in touch with a generation 
whose ideas are controlled by men twenty years younger. 
Unconsciously he hangs on beyond his greatest useful- 
ness and efficiency: he convinces himself that he is in- 
dispensable to his business, while, in scores of cases, the 
business would be distinctly benefited by his retirement 



426 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

and the consequent coming to the front of the younger 
blood. 

Such a man in a position of importance seems often 
not to see that he has it within his power to advance 
the fortunes of younger men by stepping out when he 
has served his time, while by refusing to let go he often 
works dire injustice and even disaster to his younger 
associates. 

The sad fact is that in all too many instances the 
average American business man is actually afraid to let 
go because he realizes that out of business he should 
not know what to do. For years he has so excluded 
all other interests that at fifty or sixty or seventy he 
finds himself a slave to his business, with positively no 
inner resources. Retirement from the one thing he does 
know would naturally leave such a man useless to him- 
self and his family, and his community : worse than use- 
less, as a matter of fact, for he would become a burden 
to himself, a nuisance to his family, and, when he would 
begin to write "letters" to the newspapers, a bore to 
the community. 

It is significant that a European or English business 
man rarely reaches middle age devoid of acquaintance 
with other matters; he always lets the breezes from 
other worlds of thought blow through his ideas, with the 
result that when he is ready to retire from business he 
has other interests to fall back upon. Fortunately it is 
becoming less uncommon for American men to retire 
from business and devote themselves to other pursuits; 
and their number will undoubtedly increase as time goes 
on, and we learn the lessons. of life with a richer back- 



THE THIRD PERIOD 427 

ground. But one cannot help feeling regretful that the 
custom is not growing more rapidly. 

A man must unquestionably prepare years ahead for 
his retirement, not alone financially, but mentally as 
well. Bok noticed as a curious fact that nearly every 
business man who told him he had made a mistake in his 
retirement, and that the proper life for a man is to stick 
to the game and see it through — "hold her nozzle agin 
the bank" as Jim Bludso would say — was a man with 
no resources outside his business. Naturally, a retire- 
ment is a mistake in the eyes of such a man; but oh, the 
pathos of such a position: that in a world of so much 
interest, in an age so fascinatingly full of things worth 
doing, a man should have allowed himself to become a 
slave to his business, and should imagine no other man 
happy without the same claims ! 

It is this lesson that the American business man has 
still to learn: that no man can be wholly efficient in his 
life, that he is not living a four-squared existence, if he 
concentrates every waking thought on his material 
affairs. He has still to learn that man cannot live by 
bread alone. The making of money, the accumulation 
of material power, is not all there is to living. Life is 
something more than these, and the man who misses 
this truth misses the greatest joy and satisfaction that 
can come into his life — service for others. 

Some men argue that they can give this service and 
be in business, too. But service with such men generally 
means drawing a check for some worthy cause, and 
nothing more. Edward Bok never belittled the giv- 
ing of contributions — he solicited too much money him- 



428 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

self for the causes in which he was interested — but it is 
a poor nature that can satisfy itself that it is serving 
humanity by merely signing checks. There is no form 
of service more comfortable or so cheap. Real service, 
however, demands that a man give himself with his 
check. And that the average man cannot do if he re- 
mains in affairs. 

Particularly true is this to-day, when every problem 
of business is so engrossing, demanding a man's full 
time and thought. It is the rare man who can devote 
himself to business and be fresh for the service of others 
afterward. No man can, with efficiency, serve two 
masters so exacting as are these. Besides, if his business 
has seemed important enough to demand his entire 
attention, are not the great uplift questions equally 
worth his exclusive thought? Are they easier of solu- 
tion than the material problems ? 

A man can live a life full-square only when he divides 
it into three periods : 

First: that of education, acquiring the fullest and 
best within his reach and power; 

Second: that of achievement: achieving for himself 
and his family, and discharging the first duty of any man, 
that in case of his incapacity those who are closest to 
him are provided for. But such provision does not mean 
an accumulation that becomes to those he leaves behind 
him an embarrassment rather than a protection. To 
prevent this, the next period confronts him : 

Third : Service for others. That is the acid test where 
many a man falls short: to know when he has enough, 
and to be willing not only to let well enough alone, but 



THE THIRD PERIOD 429 

to give a helping hand to the other fellow; to recognize, 
in a practical way, that we are our brother's keeper; 
that a brotherhood of man does exist outside after- 
dinner speeches. Too many men make the mistake, 
when they reach the point of enough, of going on pur- 
suing the same old game: accumulating more money, 
grasping for more power until either a nervous break- 
down overtakes them and a sad incapacity results, or 
they drop "in the harness," which is, of course, only call- 
ing an early grave by another name. They cannot seem 
to get the truth into their heads that as they have 
been helped by others so should they now help others: 
as their means have come from the public, so now they 
owe something in turn to that public. 

No man has a right to leave the world no better than 
he found it. He must add something to it: either he 
must make its people better and happier, or he must 
make the face of the world fairer to look at. And 
the one really means the other. 

"Idealism," immediately say some. Of course, it is. 
But what is the matter with idealism? What really is 
idealism? Do one- tenth of those who use the phrase so 
glibly know its true meaning, the part it has played in the 
world? The worthy interpretation of an ideal is that 
it embodies an idea — a conception of the imagination. 
All ideas are at first ideals. They must be. The pro- 
ducer brings forth an idea, but some dreamer has 
dreamed it before him either in whole or in part. 

Where would the human race be were it not for the 
ideals of men ? It is idealists, in a large sense, that this 
old world needs to-day. Its soil is sadly in need of new 



430 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

seed. Washington, in his day, was decried as an ideal- 
ist. So was Jefferson. It was commonly remarked of 
Lincoln that he was a "rank idealist. ,, Morse, Watt, 
Marconi, Edison — all were, at first, adjudged idealists. 
We say of the League of Nations that it is ideal, and we 
use the term in a derogatory sense. But that was 
exactly what was said of the Constitution of the 
United States. "Insanely ideal" was the term used 
of it. 

The idealist, particularly to-day when there is so 
great need of him, is not to be scoffed at. It is through 
him and only through him that the world will see a new 
and clear vision of what is right. It is he who has the 
power of going out of himself — that self in which too 
many are nowadays so deeply imbedded; it is he who, 
in seeking the ideal, will, through his own clearer percep- 
tion or that of others, transform the ideal into the real. 
"Where there is no vision, the people perish." 

It was his remark that he retired because he wanted 
"to play" that Edward Bok's friends most completely 
misunderstood. "Play" in their minds meant tennis, 
golf, horseback, polo, travel, etc. — (curious that scarcely 
one mentioned reading!). It so happens that no one 
enjoys some of these play-forms more than Bok; but 
"God forbid," he said, "that I should spend the rest of 
my days in a bunker or in the saddle. In moderation," 
he added, "yes; most decidedly." But the phrase of 
"play" meant more to him than all this. ' Play'is diver- 
sion: exertion of the mind as well as of the body. There 
is such a thing as mental play as well as physical play. 
We ask of play that it shall rest, refresh, exhilarate. Is 



THE THIRD PERIOD 431 

there any form of mental activity that secures all these 
ends so thoroughly and so directly as doing something 
that a man really likes to do, doing it with all his heart, 
all the time conscious that he is helping to make the 
world better for some one else ? 

A man's "play" can take many forms. If his life 
has been barren of books or travel, let him read or see 
the world. But he reaches his high estate by either of 
these roads only when he reads or travels to enrich him- 
self in order to give out what he gets to enrich the lives 
of others. He owes it to himself to get his own refresh- 
ment, his own pleasure, but he need not make that pure 
self-indulgence. 

Other men, more active in body and mind, feel drawn 
to the modern arena of the great questions that puzzle. 
It matters not in which direction a man goes in these 
matters any more than the length of a step matters so 
much as does the direction in which the step is taken. 
He should seek those questions which engross his deep- 
est interest, whether literary, musical, artistic, civic, 
economic, or what not. 

Our cities, towns, communities of all sizes and kinds, 
urban and rural, cry out for men to solve their problems. 
There is room and to spare for the man of any bent. 
The old Romans looked forward, on coming to the age 
of retirement, which was definitely fixed by rule, to a 
rural life, when they hied themselves to a little home in 
the country, had open house for their friends, and "kept 
bees." While bee-keeping is unquestionably interesting, 
there are to-day other and more vital occupations 
awaiting the retired American. 



432 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

The main thing is to secure that freedom of move- 
ment that lets a man go where he will and do what he 
thinks he can do best, and prove to himself and to others 
that the acquirement of the dollar is not all there is to 
life. No man can realize, until on awakening some 
morning he feels the exhilaration, the sense of freedom 
that comes from knowing he can choose his own doings 
and control his own goings. Time is of more value than 
money, and it is that which the man who retires feels 
that he possesses. Hamilton Mabie once said, after 
his retirement from an active editorial position: "I am 
so happy that the time has come when I elect what I 
shall do," which is true; but then he added: "I have 
rubbed out the word 'must' from my vocabulary," 
which was not true. No man ever reaches that point. 
Duty of some sort confronts a man in business or out of 
business, and duty spells "must." But there is less 
"must" in the vocabulary of the retired man; and it is 
this lessened quantity that gives the tang of joy to the 
new day. 

It is a wonderful inner personal satisfaction to reach 
the point when a man can say: "I have enough." His 
soul and character are refreshed by it: he is made over 
by it. He begins a new life ! he gets a sense of a new 
joy; he feels, for the first time, what a priceless posses- 
sion is that thing that he never knew before, freedom. 
And if he seeks that freedom at the right time, when he 
is at the summit of his years and powers and at the most 
opportune moment in his affairs, he has that supreme 
satisfaction denied to so many men, the opposite of 
which comes home with such cruel force to them: that 



THE THIRD PERIOD 433 

they have overstayed their time: they have worn out 
their welcome. 

There is no satisfaction that so thoroughly satisfies 
as that of going while the going is good. 

Still 

The friends of Edward Bok may be right when they 
said he made a mistake in his retirement. 

However 

As Mr. Dooley says: "It's a good thing, sometimes, 
to have people size ye up wrong, Hinnessey: it's whin 
they've got ye'er measure ye're in danger." 

Edward Bok's friends have failed to get his measure, 
—yet! 

They still have to learn what he has learned and is 
learning every day: "the joy," as Charles Lamb so 
aptly put it upon his retirement, "of walking about and 
around instead of to and fro." 



The question now naturally arises, having read this 
record thus far: To what extent, with his unusual op- 
portunities of fifty years, has the Americanization of 
Edward Bok gone? How far is he, to-day, an Ameri- 
can? These questions, so direct and personal in their 
nature, are perhaps best answered in a way more direct 
and personal than the method thus far adopted in this 
chronicle. We will, therefore, let Edward Bok answer 
these questions for himself, in closing this record of his 
Americanization. 



CHAPTER XXXVIII 
WHERE AMERICA FELL SHORT WITH ME 

When I came to the United States as a lad of six, the 
most needful lesson for me, as a boy, was the necessity 
for thrift. I had been taught in my home across the 
sea that thrift was one of the fundamentals in a success- 
ful life. My family had come from a land (the Nether- 
lands) noted for its thrift; but we had been in the United 
States only a few days before the realization came home 
strongly to my father and mother that they had brought 
their children to a land of waste. 

Where the Dutchman saved, the American wasted. 
There was waste, and the most prodigal waste, on every 
hand. In every street-car and on every ferry-boat the 
floors and seats were littered with newspapers that had 
been read and thrown away or left behind. If I went to 
a grocery store to buy a peck of potatoes, and a potato 
rolled off the heaping measure, the groceryman, instead 
of picking it up, kicked it into the gutter for the wheels 
of his wagon to run over. The butcher's waste filled 
my mother's soul with dismay. If I bought a scuttle 
of coal at the corner grocery, the coal that missed the 
scuttle/ instead of being shovelled up and put back into 
the bin, was swept into the street. My young eyes 
quickly saw this; in the evening I gathered up the coal 
thus swept away, and during the course of a week I 
collected a scuttleful. The first time my mother saw 

434 



WHERE AMERICA FELL SHORT WITH ME 435 

the garbage pail of a family almost as poor as our own, 
with the wife and husband constantly complaining that 
they could not get along, she could scarcely believe her 
eyes. A half pan of hominy of the preceding day's 
breakfast lay in the pail next to a third of a loaf of bread. 
In later years, when I saw, daily, a scow loaded with the 
garbage of Brooklyn householders being towed through 
New York harbor out to sea, it was an easy calculation 
that what was thrown away in a week's time from Brook- 
lyn homes would feed the poor of the Netherlands. 

At school, I quickly learned that to "save money " 
was to be " stingy "; as a young man, I soon found that 
the American disliked the word "economy," and on 
every hand as plenty grew spending grew. There was 
literally nothing in American life to teach me thrift 
or economy; everything to teach me to spend and to 
waste. 

I saw men who had earned good salaries in their prime, 
reach the years of incapacity as dependents. I saw 
families on every hand either living quite up to their 
means or beyond them; rarely within them. The more 
a man earned, the more he — or his wife — spent. I saw 
fathers and mothers and their children dressed beyond 
their incomes. The proportion of families who ran into 
debt was far greater than those who saved. When a 
panic came, the families "pulled in"; when the panic 
was over, they "let out." But the end of one year 
found them precisely where they were at the close of 
the previous year, unless they were deeper in debt. 

It was in this atmosphere of prodigal expenditure and 
culpable waste that I was to practise thrift: a funda- 



436 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

mental in life ! And it is into this atmosphere that the 
foreign-born comes now, with every inducement to 
spend and no encouragement to save. For as it was in 
the days of my boyhood, so it is to-day — only worse. 
One need only go over the experiences of the past two 
years, to compare the receipts of merchants who cater 
to the working-classes and the statements of savings- 
banks throughout the country, to read the story of how 
the foreign-born are learning the habit of criminal waste- 
fulness as taught them by the American. 

Is it any wonder, then, that in this, one of the essentials 
in life and in all success, America fell short with me, as 
it is continuing to fall short with every foreign-born who 
comes to its shores ? 

As a Dutch boy, one of the cardinal truths taught me 
was that whatever was worth doing was worth doing 
well: that next to honesty came thoroughness as a 
factor in success. It was not enough that anything 
should be done: it was not done at all if it was not 
done well. I came to America to be taught exactly the 
opposite. The two infernal Americanisms "That's good 
enough" and "That will do" were early taught me, to- 
gether with the maxim of quantity rather than quality. 

It was not the boy at school who could write the words 
in his copy-book best who received the praise of the 
teacher; it was the boy who could write the largest 
number of words in a given time. The acid test in 
arithmetic was not the mastery of the method, but the 
number of minutes required to work out an example. 
If a boy abbreviated the month January to "Jan." 



WHERE AMERICA FELL SHORT WITH ME 437 

and the word Company to "Co." he received a hundred 
per cent mark, as did the boy who spelled out the words 
and who could not make the teacher see that "Co." did 
not spell "Company." 

As I grew into young manhood, and went into busi- 
ness, I found on every hand that quantity counted for 
more than quality. The emphasis was almost always 
placed on how much work one could do in a day, rather 
than upon how well the work was done. Thoroughness 
was at a discount on every hand; production at a 
premium. It made no difference in what direction I 
went, the result was the same: the cry was always for 
quantity, quantity! And into this atmosphere of al- 
most utter disregard for quality I brought my ideas of 
Dutch thoroughness and my conviction that doing well 
whatever I did was to count as a cardinal principle in 
life. 

During my years of editorship, save in one or two 
conspicuous instances, I was never able to assign to an 
American writer, work which called for painstaking re- 
search. In every instance, the work came back to me 
either incorrect in statement, or otherwise obviously 
lacking in careful preparation. 

One of the most successful departments I ever con- 
ducted in The Ladies' Home Journal called for infinite 
reading and patient digging, with the actual results 
sometimes almost negligible. I made a study of my 
associates by turning the department over to one after 
another, and always with the same result: absolute lack 
of a capacity for patient research. As one of my edi- 
tors, typically American, said to me: "It isn't worth all 



438 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

the trouble that you put into it." Yet no single depart- 
ment ever repaid the searcher more for his pains. Save 
for assistance derived from a single person, I had to do 
the work myself for all the years that the department 
continued. It was apparently impossible for the Amer- 
ican to work with sufficient patience and care to achieve 
a result. 

We all have our pet notions as to the particular evil 
which is "the curse of America," but I always think that 
Theodore Roosevelt came closest to the real curse when 
he classed it as a lack of thoroughness. 

Here again, in one of the most important matters 
in life, did America fall short with me; and, what is 
more important, she is falling short with every foreigner 
that comes to her shores. 

In the matter of education, America fell far short in 
what should be the strongest of all her institutions: the 
public school. A more inadequate, incompetent method 
of teaching, as I look back over my seven years of at- 
tendance at three different public schools, it is difficult 
to conceive. If there is one thing that I, as a foreign- 
born child, should have been carefully taught, it is the 
English language. The individual effort to teach this, 
if effort there was, and I remember none, was negligible. 
It was left for my father to teach me, or for me 
to dig it out for myself. There was absolutely no indi- 
cation on the part of teacher or principal of responsi- 
bility for seeing that a foreign-born boy should acquire 
the English language correctly. I was taught as if I 
were American-born, and, of course, I was left dangling 



WHERE AMERICA FELL SHORT WITH ME 439 

in the air, with no conception of what I was trying 
to do. 

My father worked with me evening after evening; 
I plunged my young mind deep into the bewildering 
confusions of the language — and no one realizes the con- 
fusions of the English language as does the foreign-born 
— and got what I could through these joint efforts. But 
I gained nothing from the much-vaunted public-school 
system which the United States had borrowed from my 
own country, and then had rendered incompetent — either 
by a sheer disregard for the thoroughness that makes 
the Dutch public schools the admiration of the world, 
or by too close a regard for politics. 

Thus, in her most important institution to the for- 
eign-born, America fell short. And while I am ready to 
believe that the public school may have increased in 
efficiency since that day, it is, indeed, a question for 
the American to ponder, just how far the system is 
efficient for the education of the child who comes to 
its school without a knowledge of the first word in the 
English language. Without a detailed knowledge of 
the subject, I know enough of conditions in the average 
public school to-day to warrant at least the suspicion 
that Americans would not be particularly proud of the 
system, and of what it gives for which annually they 
pay millions of dollars in taxes. 

I am aware in making this statement that I shall be 
met with convincing instances of intelligent effort be- 
ing made with the foreign-born children in special classes. 
No one has a higher respect for those efforts than I have 
— few, other than educators, know of them better than 



440 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

I do, since I did not make my five-year study of the 
American public school system for naught. But I am 
not referring to the exceptional instance here and there. 
I merely ask of the American, interested as he is or 
should be in the Americanization of the strangers within 
his gates, how far the public school system, as a whole, 
urban and rural, adapts itself, with any true efficiency, 
to the foreign-born child. I venture to color his opinion 
in no wise; I simply ask that he will inquire and ascer- 
tain for himself, as he should do if he is interested in the 
future welfare of his country and his institutions; for 
what happens in America in the years to come depends, 
in large measure, on what is happening to-day in the 
public schools of this country. 

As a Dutch boy I was taught a wholesome respect for 
law and for authority. The fact was impressed upon 
me that laws of themselves were futile unless the people 
for whom they were made respected them, and obeyed 
them in spirit more even than in the letter. I came to 
America to feel, on every hand, that exactly the opposite 
was true. Laws were passed, but were not enforced; 
the spirit to enforce them was lacking in the people. 
There was little respect for the law; there was scarcely 
any for those appointed to enforce it. 

The nearest that a boy gets to the law is through the 
policeman. In the Netherlands a boy is taught that a 
policeman is for the protection of life and property; that 
he is the natural friend of every boy and man who be- 
haves himself. The Dutch boy and the policeman are, 
naturally, friendly in their relations. I came to America 



WHERE AMERICA FELL SHORT WITH ME 441 

to be told that a policeman is a boy's natural enemy; 
that he is eager to arrest him if he can find the slightest 
reason for doing so. A policeman, I was informed, was 
a being to hold in fear, not in respect. He was to be 
avoided, not to be made friends with. The result was 
that, as did all boys, I came to regard the policeman on 
our beat as a distinct enemy. His presence meant that 
we should "stiffen up"; his disappearance was the 
signal for us to "let loose." 

So long as one was not caught, it did not matter. I 
heard mothers tell their little children that if they did 
not behave themselves, the policeman would put them 
into a bag and carry them off, or cut their ears off. Of 
course, the policeman became to them an object of ter- 
ror; the law he represented, a cruel thing that stood for 
punishment. Not a note of respect did I ever hear for 
the law in my boyhood days. A law was something to 
be broken, to be evaded, to call down upon others as 
a source of punishment, but never to be regarded in the 
light of a safeguard. 

And as I grew into manhood, the newspapers rang 
on every side with disrespect for those in authority. 
Under the special dispensation of the liberty of the press, 
which was construed into the license of the press, no 
man was too high to escape editorial vituperation if his 
politics did not happen to suit the management, or if 
his action ran counter to what the proprietors believed 
it should be. It was not criticism of his acts, it was 
personal attack upon the official; whether supervisor, 
mayor, governor, or president, it mattered not. 

It is a very unfortunate impression that this American 



442 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

lack of respect for those in authority makes upon the 
foreign-born mind. It is difficult for the foreigner to 
square up the arrest and deportation of a man who, 
through an incendiary address, seeks to overthrow 
governmental authority, with the ignoring of an expres- 
sion of exactly the same sentiments by the editor of his 
next morning's newspaper. In other words, the man 
who writes is immune, but the man who reads, imbibes, 
and translates the editor's words into action is immedi- 
ately marked as a culprit, and America will not harbor 
him. But why harbor the original cause? Is the man 
who speaks with type less dangerous than he who speaks 
with his mouth or with a bomb ? 

At the most vital part of my life, when I was to become 
an American citizen and exercise the right of suffrage, 
America fell entirely short. It reached out not even the 
suggestion of a hand. 

When the Presidential Conventions had been held 
in the year I reached my legal majority, and I knew I 
could vote, I endeavored to find out whether, being 
foreign-born, I was entitled to the suffrage. No one 
could tell me; and not until I had visited six different 
municipal departments, being referred from one to an- 
other, was it explained that, through my father's nat- 
uralization, I became, automatically, as his son, an 
American citizen. I decided to read up on the platforms 
of the Republican and Democratic parties, but I could 
not secure copies anywhere, although a week had passed 
since they had been adopted in convention. 

I was told the newspapers had printed them. It 



WHERE AMERICA FELL SHORT WITH ME 443 

occurred to me there must be many others besides my- 
self who were anxious to secure the platforms of the two 
parties in some more convenient form. With the eye of 
necessity ever upon a chance to earn an honest penny, 
I went to a newspaper office, cut out from its files the 
two platforms, had them printed in a small pocket edi- 
tion, sold one edition to the American News Company 
and another to the News Company controlling the 
Elevated Railroad bookstands in New York City, where 
they sold at ten cents each. So great was the demand 
which I had only partially guessed, that within three 
weeks I had sold such huge editions of the little books 
that I had cleared over a thousand dollars. 

But it seemed to me strange that it should depend 
on a foreign-born American to supply an eager public 
with what should have been supplied through the agency 
of the political parties or through some educational 
source. 

I now tried to find out what a vote actually meant. 
It must be recalled that I was only twenty-one years old, 
with scant education, and with no civic agency offering 
me the information I was seeking. I went to the head- 
quarters of each of the political parties and put my 
query. I was regarded with puzzled looks. 

"What does it mean to vote?" asked one chairman. 
"Why, on Election Day you go up to the ballot-box and 
put your ballot in, and that's all there is to it." 

But I knew very well that that was not all there was 
to it, and was determined to find out the significance of 
the franchise. I met with dense ignorance on every 
hand. I went to the Brooklyn Library, and was frankly 



444 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

told by the librarian that he did not know of a book 
that would tell me what I wanted to know. This was 
in 1884. 

As the campaign increased in intensity, I found my- 
self a desired person in the eyes of the local campaign 
managers, but not one of them could tell me the signifi- 
cance and meaning of the privilege I was for the first 
time to exercise. 

Finally, I spent an evening with Seth Low, and, of 
course, got the desired information. 

But fancy the quest I had been compelled to make to 
acquire the simple information that should have been 
placed in my hands or made readily accessible to me. 
And how many foreign-born would take equal pains to 
ascertain what I was determined to find out ? 

Surely America fell short here at the moment most 
sacred to me : that of my first vote ! 

Is it any easier to-day for the foreign citizen to acquire 
this information when he approaches his first vote? 
I wonder ! Not that I do not believe there are agencies 
for this purpose. You know there are, and so do I. 
But how about the foreign-born? Does he know it? 
Is it not perhaps like the owner of the bulldog who 
assured the friend calling on him that it never attacked 
friends of the family? "Yes," said the friend, "that's 
all right. You know and I know that I am a friend of 
the family; but does the dog know?" 

Is it to-day made known to the foreign-born, about 
to exercise his privilege of suffrage for the first time, 
where he can be told what that privilege means: is the 



WHERE AMERICA FELL SHORT WITH ME 445 

means to know made readily accessible to him: is it, 
in fact, as it should be, brought to him ? 

It was not to me; is it to him? 

One fundamental trouble with the present desire for 
Americanization is that the American is anxious to 
Americanize two classes — if he is a reformer, the foreign- 
born; if he is an employer, his employees. It never 
occurs to him that he himself may be in need of Ameri- 
canization. He seems to take it for granted that be- 
cause he is American-born, he is an American in spirit 
and has a right understanding of American ideals. But 
that, by no means, always follows. There are thousands 
of the American-born who need Americanization just 
as much as do the foreign-born. There are hundreds of 
American employers who know far less of American ideals 
than do some of their employees. In fact, there are those 
actually engaged to-day in the work of Americanization, 
men at the top of the movement, who sadly need a 
better conception of true Americanism. 

An excellent illustration of this came to my knowledge 
when I attended a large Americanization Conference in 
Washington. One of the principal speakers was an 
educator of high standing and considerable influence in 
one of the most important sections of the United States. 
In a speech setting forth his ideas of Americanization, 
he dwelt with much emphasis and at considerable length 
upon instilling into the mind of the foreign-born the 
highest respect for American institutions. 

After the Conference he asked me whether he could 
see me that afternoon at my hotel; he wanted to talk 



446 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

about contributing to the magazine. When he came, 
before approaching the object of his talk, he launched 
out on a tirade against the President of the United 
States; the weakness of the Cabinet, the inefficiency of 
the Congress, and the stupidity of the Senate. If words 
could have killed, there would have not remained a single 
living member of the Administration at Washington. 

After fifteen minutes of this, I reminded him of his 
speech and the emphasis which he had placed upon the 
necessity of inculcating in the foreign-born respect for 
American institutions. 

Yet this man was a power in his community, a strong 
influence upon others; he believed he could American- 
ize others, when he himself, according to his own state- 
ments, lacked the fundamental principle of Americaniza- 
tion. What is true of this man is, in lesser or greater 
degree, true of hundreds of others. Their Americaniza- 
tion consists of lip-service; the real spirit, the only 
factor which counts in the successful teaching of any 
doctrine, is absolutely missing. We certainly cannot 
teach anything approaching a true Americanism until 
we ourselves feel and believe and practise in our own 
lives what we are teaching to others. No law, no lip- 
service, no effort, however well-intentioned, will amount 
to anything worth while in inculcating the true American 
spirit in our foreign-born citizens until we are sure that 
the American spirit is understood by ourselves and is 
warp and woof of our own being. 

To the American, part and parcel of his country, these 
particulars in which his country falls short with the 



WHERE AMERICA FELL SHORT WITH ME 447 

foreign-born are, perhaps, not so evident; they may even 
seem not so very important. But to the foreign-born 
they seem distinct lacks; they loom large; they form 
serious handicaps which, in many cases, are never sur- 
mounted; they are a menace to that Americanization 
which is, to-day, more than ever our fondest dream, 
and which we now realize more keenly than before is our 
most vital need. 

It is for this reason that I have put them down here 
as a concrete instance of where and how America fell 
short in my own Americanization, and, what is far more 
serious to me, where she is falling short in her American- 
ization of thousands of other foreign-born. 

"Yet you succeeded," it will be argued. 

That may be; but you, on the other hand, must admit 
that I did not succeed by reason of these shortcomings: 
it was in spite of them, by overcoming them — a result 
that all might not achieve. 



CHAPTER XXXIX 
WHAT I OWE TO AMERICA 

Whatever shortcomings I may have found during 
my fifty-year period of Americanization; however 
America may have failed to help my transition from a 
foreigner into an American, I owe to her the most price- 
less gift that any nation can offer, and that is oppor- 
tunity. 

As the world stands to-day, no nation offers oppor- 
tunity in the degree that America does to the foreign- 
born. Russia may, in the future, as I like to believe 
she will, prove a second United States of America in 
this respect. She has the same limitless area; her peo- 
ple the same potentialities. But, as things are to-day, 
the United States offers, as does no other nation, a 
limitless opportunity: here a man can go as far as his 
abilities will carry him. It may be that the foreign- 
born, as in my own case, must hold on to some of the 
ideals and ideas of the land of his birth; it may be that 
he must develop and mould his character by overcoming 
the habits resulting from national shortcomings. But 
into the best that the foreign-born can retain, America 
can graft such a wealth of inspiration, so high a national 
idealism, so great an opportunity for the highest en- 
deavor, as to make him the fortunate man of the earth 

to-day. 

448 



WHAT I OWE TO AMERICA 449 

He can go where he will: no traditions hamper hinr, 
no limitations are set except those within himself. The 
larger the area he chooses in which to work, the larger 
the vision he demonstrates, the more eager the people 
are to give support to his undertakings if they are con- 
vinced that he has their best welfare as his goal. There 
is no public confidence equal to that of the American 
public, once it is obtained. It is fickle, of course, as are 
all publics, but fickle only toward the man who cannot 
maintain an achieved success. 

A man in America cannot complacently lean back 
upon victories won, as he can in the older European 
countries, and depend upon the glamour of the past to 
sustain him or the momentum of success to carry him. 
Probably the most alert public in the world, it requires 
of its leaders that they be alert. Its appetite for variety 
is insatiable, but its appreciation, when given, is full- 
handed and whole-hearted. The American public never 
holds back from the man to whom it gives; it never be- 
stows in a niggardly way; it gives all or nothing. 

What is not generally understood of the American 
people is their wonderful idealism. Nothing so com- 
pletely surprises the foreign-born as the discovery of 
this trait in the American character. The impression 
is current in European countries — perhaps less generally 
since the war — that America is given over solely to a 
worship of the American dollar. While between na- 
tions as between individuals, comparisons are valueless, 
it may not be amiss to say, from personal knowledge, 
that the Dutch worship the gulden infinitely more than 
do the Americans the dollar. 



450 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

I do not claim that the American is always conscious 
of this idealism; often he is not. But let a great con- 
vulsion touching moral questions occur, and the result 
always shows how close to the surface is his idealism. 
And the fact that so frequently he puts over it a thick 
veneer of materialism does not affect its quality. The 
truest approach, the only approach in fact, to the Ameri- 
can character is, as Viscount Bryce has so well said, 
through its idealism. 

It is this quality which gives the truest inspiration to 
the foreign-born in his endeavor to serve the people of 
his adopted country. He is mentally sluggish, indeed, 
who does not discover that America will make good 
with him if he makes good with her. 

But he must play fair. It is essentially the straight 
game that the true American plays, and he insists that 
you shall play it too. Evidence there is, of course, to 
the contrary in American life, experiences that seem to 
give ground for the belief that the man succeeds who is 
not scrupulous in playing his cards. But never is this 
true in the long run. Sooner or later — sometimes, un- 
fortunately, later than sooner — the public discovers 
the trickery. In no other country in the world is the 
moral conception so clear and true as in America, and 
no people will give a larger and more permanent reward 
to the man whose effort for that public has its roots in 
honor and truth. 

"The sky is the limit " to the foreign-born who comes 
to America endowed with honest endeavor, ceaseless 
industry, and the ability to carry through. In any 
honest endeavor, the way is wide open to the will to 



WHAT I OWE TO AMERICA 451 

succeed. Every path beckons, every vista invites, every 
talent is called forth, and every efficient effort finds its 
due reward. In no land is the way so clear and so free. 

How good an American has the process of American- 
ization made me? That I cannot say. Who can say 
that of himself? But when I look around me at the 
American-born I have come to know as my close friends, 
I wonder whether, after all, the foreign-born does not 
make in some sense a better American — whether he is 
not able to get a truer perspective; whether his is not 
the deeper desire to see America greater; whether he 
is not less content to let its faulty institutions be as they 
are; whether in seeing faults more clearly he does not 
make a more decided effort to have America reach those 
ideals or those fundamentals of his own land which he 
feels are in his nature, and the best of which he is 
anxious to graft into the character of his adopted land ? 

It is naturally with a feeling of deep satisfaction that 
I remember two Presidents of the United States con- 
sidered me a sufficiently typical American to wish to 
send me to my native land as the accredited minister of 
my adopted country. And yet when I analyze the rea- 
sons for my choice in both these instances, I derive a 
deeper satisfaction from the fact that my strong desire 
to work in America for America led me to ask to be 
permitted to remain here. 

It is this strong impulse that my Americanization has 
made the driving power of my life. And I ask no greater 
privilege than to be allowed to live to see my potential 
America become actual: the America that I like to think 
of as the America of Abraham Lincoln and of Theodore 



452 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

Roosevelt — not faultless, but less faulty. It is a part 
in trying to shape that America, and an opportunity to 
work in that America when it comes, that I ask in return 
for what I owe to her. A greater privilege no man could 
have. 



EDWARD WILLIAM BOK 

BIOGRAPHICAL DATA 

1863: Born, October 9, at Helder, Netherlands. 

1870: September 20: Arrived in the United States. 

1870: Entered public schools of Brooklyn, New York. 

1873: Obtained first position in Frost's Bakery, Smith Street, 
Brooklyn, at 50 cents per week. 

1876: August 7: Entered employ of the Western Union Tele- 
graph Company as office-boy. 

1882 : Entered employ of Henry Holt & Company as stenographer. 

1884: Entered employ of Charles Scribner's Sons as stenographer. 

1884: Became editor of The Brooklyn Magazine. 

1886: Founded The Bok Syndicate Press. 

1887: Published Henry Ward Beecher Memorial (privately 
printed). 

1889: October 20: Became editor of The Ladies' Home Journal. 

1890: Published Successward: Doubleday, McClure & Company. 

1894: Published Before He Is Twenty: Fleming H. Revell Com- 
pany. 

1896: October 22: Married Mary Louise Curtis. 

1897: September 7: Son born: William Curtis Bok. 

1900: Published The Young Man in Business: L. C. Page & 
Company. 

1905: January 25: Son born: Cary William Bok. 

1906: Published Her Brother's Letters (Anonymous): Moffat, 
Yard & Company. 

1907: Degree of LL.D. of Order of Augustinian Fathers conferred 
by order of Pope Pius X., by the Most Reverend Diomede 
Falconio, D.D., Apostolic Delegate to the United States, 
at Villanova College. 

453 



454 THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK 

1 910: Degree of LL.D. conferred, in absentia, by Hope College, 

Holland, Michigan (the only Dutch college in the United 

States). 
1 91 1 : Founded, with others, The Child Federation of Philadelphia. 
191 2: Published: The Edward Bok Books of Self '-Knowledge ; five 

volumes: Fleming H. Revell Company. 
1913: Founded, with others, The Merion Civic Association, at 

Merion, Pennsylvania. 
1915: Published Why I Believe in Poverty: Houghton, Mifflin 

Company. 
1 91 6: Published poem, God's Hand, set to music by Josef Hof- 

mann: Schirmer & Company. 
191 7: Vice-president Philadelphia Belgian Relief Commission. 
191 7: Member of National Y. M. C. A. War Work Council. 
191 7 : State chairman for Pennsylvania of Y. M. C. A. War Work 

Council. 
1918 : Member of Executive Committee and chairman of Publicity 

Committee, Philadelphia War Chest. 
1918: Chairman of Philadelphia Y. M. C. A. Recruiting Com- 
mittee. 
1918: State chairman for Pennsylvania of United War Work 

Campaign. 
1918: August-November: visited the battle-fronts in France as 

guest of the British Government. 
1 91 9: September 22: Relinquished editorship of The Ladies' 

Home Journal, completing thirty years of service. 
1920: September 20: Upon the 50th anniversary of arrival in the 

United States, published The Americanization of Edward 

Bok. 



THE EXPRESSION OF A PERSONAL 
PLEASURE 

J cannot close this record of a boy's development 
without an attempt to suggest the sense of deep personal 
pleasure which I feel that the imprint on the title-page 
of this book should be that of the publishing house 
which, thirty-six years ago, I entered as stenographer. 
It was there I received my start; it was there I laid 
the foundation of that future career then so hidden from 
me. The happiest days of my young manhood were 
spent in the employ of this house; I there began friend- 
ships which have grown closer with each passing year. 
And one of my deepest sources of satisfaction is, that 
during all the thirty-one years which have followed my 
resignation from the Scribner house, it has been my 
good fortune to hold the friendship, and, as I have been 
led to believe, the respect of my former employers. 
That they should now be my publishers demonstrates, 
in a striking manner, the curious turning of the wheel 
of time, and gives me a sense of gratification difficult of 
expression. 

4& *u<s*^r~~uy, fctrfis^ 



^ 



455 



INDEX 



Abbey, Edwin A., 245, 259 ff. 

Abbott, Lyman, 278, 345, 363, 375. 

Abbott, Mrs. Lyman, 175. 

Adams, Charles Francis, 60. 

Adams, John, 60. 

Adams, John Quincy, ^o. 

Addams, Jane, 303, 375. 

Adriatic, 404. 

Aleott, Louisa, visit to, 53 ff . ; Emer- 
son visited by, 55 ff . ; letters from, 
232. 

American Civic Association, 254, 
352 ff. 

American Lithographic Company, 
27. 

American Magazine, 78 ff. 

American Red Cross, 389. 

American Union Telegraph Com- 
pany, 71. 

Anderson, Mary, visit to, 220. 

Anthony, Susan B., 303. 

Appleton's Encyclopedia, 17 ff. 

Astor, William Waldorf, 149. 

Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe 
Railroad, 253. 

Atlanta, 257. 

Atlantic Monthly, 378. 

Bangs, John Kendrick, 136, 233. 

Banker, James H., 17. 

Barger, Samuel F. f 17. 

Baruch, Bernard, 391. 

Beauvoir, Mississippi, 26. 

Beaverbrook, Lord, 404. 

Beecher, Henry Ward, 64 ff., 80 ff., 

132, death of, 133 ff. 
Belfieid, Thomas Dun, 399. 
Bell, Alexander Graham, 17. 
Bellamy, Edward, 118. 
Bernhardt, Sarah, 328. 
Blaine, James G., 192 ff. 
Blankenburg, Mrs. Rudolph, 301. 
Bok, Edward William, arrival of, 

1 ff.; first American schooldays 



of, 2 ff.; homework of, 8 ff.; first 
money earned by, 9 ff . ; first news- 
paper work of, 12 ff. ; first position 
of, 15 ff.; self -education of, 17 ff., 
29; reportorial work of, 29 ff., 61 
ff.; Garfield's letter to, 18; auto 
graph letters collected by, 18 ff. 
first literary commission of, 27 ff. 
first editorial Work of, 28; Grant's 
and Hayes's speeches reported 
by, 30; President Hayes and, 31 
ff.; Boston visit of, 34 ff.; the- 
atre programmes published by, 
63; Brooklyn Magazine published 
by, 65 ff., 78; stock market 
played by, 69 ff. ; publishing busi- 
ness entered by, 78; syndicate 
newspaper business of, 80 ff.; 
Beecher's friendship with, 85, 
89 ff.; Bok Syndicate Press or- 
ganized by, 104; "Woman's 
page" originated by, 104 ff., 149, 
153 ff.; Scribner's employment 
of, 108 ff., 144 ff.; Stevenson arid, 
113 ff.; Stockton and, 116 ff.; 
Curtis's offer to, 155 ff.; offer 
accepted by, 158 ff.; Ladies' 
Home Journal edited by, 166 ff.; 
new Curtis building and, 258 ff. ; 
Eugene Field and, 181 ff.; bill- 
boards and, 253 ff.; "Dirty 
Cities" and, 256 ff.; Roosevelt 
and, 266 ff., 273 ff.; home life of, 
268; Suffragists and, 302 ff.; 
Kipling and, 309 ff.; Niagara 
Falls and, 352 ff . ; ' war work of, 
394 ff.; battle front trip of, 
404 ff. ; resignation of, 417 ff. 

Bok Syndicate Press, 104, 106. 

Bok, William, 1, 104, 155. 

Bonheur, Rosa, Bole's visit to, 230 
ff. 

Book Buyer, The, in ff., 141. 

Booth, Evangeline, 391. 



457 



458 



INDEX 



Boston, 35, 46, 47, 51, 60, 181 ff. 

Boston Globe, interview in, 20. 

Boston Herald, 275. 

Boston Journal, 108. 

Boston Transcript, 275. 

Bottome, Margaret, 172. 

Breadwinners, The, 138. 

Brewer, Owen W., 147. 

Bridges, Robert, book reviews by, 

291. 
Briggs, Dr. Charles A., 144 ff. 
Brooklyn, 2, II, 17, 20, 29, 65, 86, 

90. 
Brooklyn Academy of Music, 92. 
Brooklyn Magazine, 65 ff., 78 ff. 
Brooklyn Eagle, 12; interview in, 

20; reporting for, 29 ff., 61 ff. 
Brooks, Phillips, 46 ff.; visit to, 

48 ff., 59; contribution from, 66, 

104. 
Bulgaria, capitulation of, 406. 
Burlingame, Edward L., 109 ff., 

113 ff. 
Burnett, Frances Hodgson, 115. 
Bush, Rufus T., 65, 78, 79. 

Cable, Geo, W., 186 ff. 

Cambridge, 40, 45 ff. 

Carleton, Will, 155. 

Carlyle, Thomas, 56. 

Carnegie, Andrew, 115, 128, 154. 

Carroll, Lewis; interview with, 

221 ff. 
Carroll Park Methodist Episcopal 

Church, 13. 
Cary, Anna Louise, 64. 
Cary, Clarence, 68 ff., 74, 76 ff., 

108. 
Castle, Vernon, 385 ff. 
Century Magazine, 377 ff. 
Chambersburg, 19, 209. 
Chicago, 182. 
Chicago, Burlington and Quincy 

Railroad, 252 ff. 
Chicago News, 181, 186. 
Chicago Tribune, 355. 
Child Federation, 353 ff. 
Childs, George W., 20, 158. 
Cincinnati, 257. 
Cincinnati Times-Star, 108. 
Claflin, A. B., 65. 



Clemens, Samuel, see Mark Twain. 
Clemens, Mrs. Samuel, 128. 
Cleveland, Ohio, 356. 
Cleveland, President, 298 ff., 38^ ff. 
Coghlan, Rose, 61 ff. 
Collier, Robert J., 344. 
Colver, Frederic, 63 ff., 80. 
Committee on Public Information, 

399. 
Concord, 54. 

Coolidge, Dr. Emelyn L., 176 ff. 
Cornell, Alonzo B., 17. 
Cosmopolitan Magazine, 79. 
Country Life, Curtis's purchase of, 

238 ff. ; Doubleday's purchase of, 

239, 379- 
"Craigie House," 46. 
Crawford, Marion, 233.- 
Curtis, Cyrus H. K., 155 ff., 200 ff.; 

new building of, 258 ff., 346 ff., 

378 ff. 
Curtis, Mrs. Cyrus H. K., 160. 
Curtis, M. L., 268. 
Curtis Publishing Company, 200, 

239; new building, 258, 260, 265. 

Dana, Charles A., 235 ff. 

Davenport, Fannie, 150 ff. 

Davis, Jefferson, letter from, 21 1 ff. ; 

visit with, 25, 26. 
Davis, Richard Harding, 136. 
De Forest, Lockwood, 310. 
De Koven, Reginald, 365. 
Democracy Triumphant, 115, 154. 
De Monvel, Boutet, 262. 
Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, 113, 

115, 117. 
Dodgson, Rev. Chas. L., see Lewis 

Carroll. 
Dorscheimer, Governor, 105. 
Doubleday, Frank M., in ff., 

127, 147, 154, 166, 239, 309 ff., 

377. 
Doubleday, Page and Co., 111, 239. 
Doyle, Conan, 233. 
Dumas, fils, 229, 230. 
Du Maurier, George, 136. 

Early, General Jubal, letter from, 

19, 209. 
Edinburgh, 405. 



INDEX 



459 



Edison, Thomas A., 17. 

Eliot, President, 278. 

Elizabeth, Queen of the Belgians, 

39L392. 
Elkins, George W., 13, 248. 
Elman, Mischa, 369 ff. 
Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 34; Bok's 

visit to, 54 ff. 
Empress of Asia, 416. 
Evarts, Wm. M., 29. 

Farrar, Canon, contribution from, 

66. 
Federal Bureau of Americanization, 

420. 
Field, Cyrus W., 425. 
Field, Eugene, friendship with, 181, 

189, 209 ff.; death of, 232. 
Fifth Avenue Hotel, 21, 24. 
Fitch, George, 173. 
Flaherty, James A., 341. 
Foch, Ferdinand, 400. 
Freer, Charles L., 248. 
Fremont, Ohio, 88. 
Frick, Henry C, 248. 
Frost, A. B., 117. 

Gardner, Mrs. John L., 248. 

Garfield, Dr. H. A., 392. 

Garfield, James A., letter to, 18; 

call on, 21. 
Garland, Hamlin, 233. 
Garrison, Wm. Lloyd, 60. 
Gerard, J. W., 391. 
Gibbons, Cardinal, 66. 
Gibson, C. D., 231, 245. 
Gladstone, Wm. E., 198 ff. 
Gladstone, Mrs., 198 ff. 
Gorgas, Wm. C, 391. 
Gould, Jay, 68 ff. 
Grant, U. S., letter from, 19; call 

on, 21; dinner with, 21 ff., 29; 

speech of, 30, 34; contributions 

from, 68. 
Great War, 387. 

Greenaway, interview with, 225 ff. 
Grey, Earl, 353. 

Hamill, Dr. Samuel McClintock, 
358. 



Hapgood, Norman, 344. 
Harland, Marion, 66. 
Harmon, Dudley, 388. 
Harper and Brothers, 13, 20, 207. 
Harper's Magazine, 13, 378* 
Harper's Weekly, 13. 
Harper's Young People, 13. 
Harris, Joel Chandler, 233. 
Harrison, Benjamin, 192, 194 ff., 

210, 232 ff. 
Harrison, Mrs. Burton, 233. 
Havemeyer, Mrs., 248. 
Hay, Ian, 389. 
Hay, John, 139. 
Hayes, R. B., call on, 21; report 

of speech of, 30 ff.; drive with, 

31 ff.; call on, 33; contribution 

from, 66, 87 ff. 
Hegeman, Evelyn Lyon, 64. 
Hegeman, Paul, 394. 
Hitchcock, Ripley, 19 ff. 
Hodges, Dean, 375. 
Hofman, Josef, 365 ff. 
Holmes, O. W., 34; visit with, 

35 ff., 47; book introduction by, 

207. 
Holt, Henry, and Company, 75, 

104, 108. 
Hoover, Herbert, 390, 425. 
Howard, Joseph, Jr., 134. 
Howe, Julia Ward, 303. 
Howells, William Dean, 66, 191, 

202, 212 ff., 374. 
Hulme, Thomas W., 398. 

Indianapolis, 282. 

Jerome, Jerome K., 233. 
Jewett, Sarah Orne, 233. 
Johnson, Eldridge R., 363. 
Johnson, John G., 248. 

Keller, Helen, 375. 
Kellogg, Clara Louise, 64. 
King, Horatio, 65. 
Kipling, J. Lockwood, 309. 
Kipling, Rudyard, 191, 213 ff., 

219 ff., 234, 306; Bokand,3i3 ff., 

316; English trip of, 309, 312; 

Ladies 1 Home Journal, work of, 

375, 379, 38o, 384. 



460 



INDEX 



Ladies' Home Journal, 155 ff., 159; 
Bok editor of, 166, history of, 
1 66 ; patent- medicine advertising 
in, 201 ff., 340, 345; "Dirty 
Cities" in, 256 ff., 258; Roose- 
velt in, 275 ff., 283, 299, 301, 307, 
310, 321 ff., 324, 346 ff., 354, 437; 
Fourth of July celebration ap- 
proved by, 355, 356; music in, 
365; success of, 374, 375 ff., 384; 
war policy and work of, 389-393; 
Bok's resignation from,4i7ff.,423. 

Lady or the Tiger, 115 ff. 

Lane, Franklin K., 420. 

Lape, Esther Everett, 420. 

Lathrop, George Parsons, 108. 

Lee, General R. E., Grant's letter 
concerning, 19. 

Life, 355. 

Lincoln, Mrs. Abraham, Bok's visit 
to, 25. 

Little Lord Fauntleroy, 115, 117. 

London, 406. 

Longfellow, H. W., letter from, 

19. 34, 39 ff- 
Low, A. A., 31, 65. 
Low, Seth, 65, 444. 
Low, Will H., 245. 
Lynch, Albert, 245. 
Lynn, Mass., 256. 

Mabie, W. H., 291. 
McAdoo, Win'., 391. 
McFarland, J. Horace, 253 ff., 352, 

354- 
Maclaren, Ian, 231 ff. 
Mallon, Mrs. Isabel, 171. 
Mansfield, Richard, 114, 117. 
Memphis, Tenn., 257. 
Mentor, The, 147. 
Metropolitan Hotel, 25 ff. 
Moffat, Wm. D., 147. 
Moffat, Yard & Co., 147. 
Moody, Dwight L., 233. 
Morgan, J. Pierpont, 248. 
Moscowski, 365. 
Mott, John R., 389 ff., 395. 
Mott, Lucretia, 60. 

National Era, 94. 
Netherlands, 1, 43, 45, 434 ff. 



New Haven, Conn., 257. 

New Orleans, La., 188. 

New York, autograph collecting 

in, 20 ff., 34, 60, 79, 85 ff., 88, 

356, 405. 
New York Evening Sun, 1 74, 285, 388. 
New York Star, 105, 108, 152. 
New York Times, 329. 
New York Tribune, early letters in, 

19. 

New York Weekly, 14. 
Niagara Falls, 352 ff. 
Nightingale, Florence, 224. 
North, Ernest Dressel, 147. 
Northcliffe, Viscount, 389. 

O'Brien, Robert L., 275. 
Orton, William, 17. 
Outlook, 363. 

Paderewski, 365. 
Parrish, Maxfield, 258 ff., 264. 
Patton, Francis L., 144 ff. 
Pavlowa, Madam, 386. 
Pennypacker, Mrs., 301, 356 ff. 
Phelps, E. Stuart, 233. 
Philadelphia, 20, 155 ff., 186 ff., 191, 

232, 257. 
Philadelphia Public Ledger, 20. 
Philadelphia Times, 108, 155 ff. 
Phillips, Wendell, 46 ff., 60. 
Philomathean Review, 64. 
Philomathean Society, 64. 
Pinkham, Lavinia, 181. 
Pinkham, Lydia, 1 81. 3 *ff 
Pittsburgh, 257. 

Plymouth Church, 64, 70, 84, 211. 
Plymouth Pulpit, 65. 
Porter, Gene Stratton, 375. 
Presbyterian Review, 112, 144. 
Pyle, Howard, 261 ff. 

Queen, The, 1. 

Raymond, Rossiter W., 65. 

Read, Opie, 182. 

Riley, James Whitcomb, 182 ff., 

232, 319 ff., 380 ff. 
Roosevelt, Franklin D., 389. 
Roosevelt, Theodore, Panama 

Canal, 214 ff., 249 ff.; friend- 



INDEX 



461 



ship with, 266, 268; Ladies 1 Home 
Journal, work of, 223, 274 ff., 
283; Bok's son and, 284, 290; 
Niagara Falls and, 352 ff., 362 ff., 

383, 438. 
Root, Elihu, 355. 
Russell, Sol Smith, 182 ff. 
Russia, 448. 

Safford, Ray, 147. 

Sangster, Margaret, 66. 

Saturday Evening Post, Curtis's 
purchase of, 239, 258. 

Schell, Augustus, 17. 

Schlicht, Paul J., 79. 

Scribner, Arthur H., 126. 

Scribner, Charles, 109, 126 ff. 

Scribner's Sons, Charles, 108 ff., 
126, 129, 166. 

Scribner's Magazine, in ff., 147, 
378. 

Shaw, Anna Howard, 303, 390. 

Sheridan, P. H., 29, contributions 
from, 66. 

Sherman, General W. T., call on, 
21; letter from, 23, 29; con- 
tribution from, 66; letter from 
Talmage, 215; letter to Talmage, 
216 ff. 

Slocum, Henry W., 65. 

Smedley, W. T., 245. 

Smith, F. Hopkinson, 375. 

Sousa, John Philip, 365. 

South Brooklyn Aavocate, 10. 

Speer, Mrs. Robert E., 391. 

Stevenson, Robert Louis, visit to, 
113 ff., 296. 

Stockton, Frank, 115 ff- 

Stokowski, Leopold, 368 ff. 

Storrs, Rev. Richard S., 130 ff. 

Stowe, Harriet Beecher, 140. 

Strauss, Edward, 365. 

Strauss, Richard, 365. 

Sullivan, Sir Arthur, 227 ff., 365. 

Sullivan, Mark, 343 ff. 

Taft, Charles P., 248. 
Taft, Wm. H., 210 ff., 354 ff., 383, 
389. 



Talmage, Rev. T. De Witt, 65, 90. 

Taylor, W. L., 245. 

Tennyson, Alfred, Lord, letter from, 

19. 
Thursby, Emma C, 64. 
Tiffany, Louis C, 263 ff. 
Tosti, 365. 

Transvaal Republic, 193. 
Trenton, N. J., 256. 
Trilby, 136 ff. 
Twain, Mark, 128, 139, 149 ff., 

204 ff., 382. 
Twombly, Hamilton McK., 17. 

Uncle Tom's Cabin, 94 ff. 
University Club, 266. 

Valentine, 149. 

Vanderbilt, William H., 17. 

Van Dyke, Catherine, 392. 

Van Dyke, Henry, 375. 

Van Rensselaer, Alexander, 372. 

Verne, Jules, 228 ff. 

Walker, E. D., 74. 

Washington, George, 45. 

Webster, Jean, 375. 

Western Union Telegraph Com- 
pany, 15, 68, 71, 73 ff-, 76. 

Wheeler, Miss Marianna, 177. 

White, Stanford, 242, 243. 

Whittier, John Greenleaf, Bok's 
letter from, 19, 208. 

Widener, Joseph E., 248. 

Wiggin, Kate Douglas, 233, 375. 

Wilcox, Ella Wheeler, 105. 

Wiles, Irving R., 245. 

Wilkes-Barre, Pa., 256 ff. 

Wilkinson, Edward S., 396. 

Willard, Frances E., 219. 

Wilmington, Del., 261. 

Wilson, Francis, 186 ff. 

Wilson, Margaret, 391. 

Wilson, Woodrow, 381. 

Y. M. C. A., 29, 389, 395 ff., 398» 

400. 
Y. W. C. A., 391. 













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